Huntelaar out to prove Real were wrong to ditch him

FC SCHALKE 04 v REAL MADRID

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will be fuelled by injustice when he comes up against his old club Real Madrid tonight.

Schalke’s Dutch striker was discarded by Madrid after just eight months following a 20 million euros move from Ajax, where he was prolific.

After an unsuccessful spell at AC Milan, Huntelaar has rebuilt his reputation at Schalke — he has scored 51 in 89 league appearances for them —where he is again a regular on the scoresheet.

But he still feels he was not given a fair chance at the Bernabeu and is relishing the chance to lock horns with Los Blancos.

“Real is a great club, with fantastic people,” he said.

“I arrived during a difficult time for the club in every sense. We were far behind Barcelona but we played a good second half of the season and closed the gap to the top significantly.

“Despite everything, I was focused on playing, on fighting for a place in the team, but they didn’t give me a chance and they left me no option.

“They wouldn’t even let me train with the rest of the squad, they shut me out. I had to leave. So I sought an exit and moved to Milan.

“Obviously it wasn’t my objective to leave Real Madrid so soon but that’s football and there’s no point in dwelling on it.”

Meanwhile, Real legend Raul believes coach Carlo Ancelotti has put together the best Madrid team for years. Raul spent 16 years with the club and two at Schalke, and he’s looking forward to watching his two old clubs go head to head.

He told Goal: “I love both teams. I spent my best moments as a footballer with them and I really wish them good luck.

“Real Madrid are putting in great performances nowadays and are in their best condition in recent years, but Schalke is a good team and they have proved that by reaching the knockout stages.” 

Bale primed for victory

Real Madrid are targeting a rare win in Germany when they take on Schalke.

Madrid have won only once in 24 games away against German opposition, losing 17 times. However, currently unbeaten in 26 games, Gareth Bale, 24, believes the team are primed to improve that dismal record: “We know the Champions League is a big competition with all the best teams in it, so we know it is going to be difficult.

“I think we are ready, we believe we can win every game so we’ll go over there and hopefully come back with the win.”