The hero of Schalke’s furthest advance ever into Europe’s premiere club competition, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, turned into the goat in the Royal Blues’ 1-0 loss to Barcelona. Neuer, whose saves in penalty shots against Porto catapulted Schalke into the quarters, let a 12th minute shot from French international Thierry Henry bounce off his chest. Henry then slid the ball to Bojan Krkic who only needed to tap the ball into the open net.

The early goal dictated the whole remainder of the first half as Schalke played with far too much respect against a Barca side that was without Lionel Messi, Deco and the conspicuously absent Ronaldinho. But with star talent like Henry and Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o up front, coach Frank Rijkaard’s side is still a force to be reckoned with.

In the second half, the home side again played cautiously until the final 20 minutes, upon which Schalke decided a 1-0 loss was not the most advantageous situation to travel to Nou Camp next week. Coach Mirko Slomka brought in strikers Vicente Sanchez and Soren Larsen for a weak-performing Kevin Kuranyi and Gerald Asamoah. The move changed Schalke’s attitude and they pushed forward with numerous chances rolling and flying past the goal posts and crossbar. None found the net, so Schalke find themselves down a goal for the second leg next week.

Man U on another level

In the second quarter-final played on Tuesday evening, Manchester United continued their fine form with a 2-0 victory at AS Rome. Certainly one of Europe’s top players at the moment, Cristiano Ronaldo, put the Red Devils in front with a flying header just before the interval. When Rome came out in the second half, they turned the screws on ManU only to see Wayne Rooney double the advantage after the hour mark. That took the punch out of Rome’s game. Manchester now returns to Old Trafford for the second leg two goals up and can probably ready themselves for a semi-final appearance.