Emery expects tough Schalke test

Valencia boss Unai Emery insists there will be no lack of respect from his side when they face Schalke in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Tuesday’s match will see former Real Madrid players Raul, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Christoph Metzelder return to Spain to face Valencia at the Mestalla, and Emery is well aware of their capabilities.

“I see lots of evenly matched teams – lots of even ties. We have a 50-50 tie against Schalke, we believe in our potential and respect our opponents,” Emery said.

“We consider that winning this tie will be a case of having two excellent matches.”

“They have former Madrid players in Raul, Metzelder and Huntelaar. That says it all about the team’s quality.”

“Raul and Huntelaar are scoring for them. The difference that they make inspires fear. Raul makes this game bigger, but Metzelder and Huntelaar are also great players.”

“They are a strong team. They are having a great season in the Champions League. In the league, they haven’t found consistency, but we expect Schalke to be strong. We will be as well prepared as possible.”

Valencia are unbeaten in nine matches in La Liga and lost just once during the group stage of the Champions League, but striker Roberto Soldado said they could not afford to get ahead of themselves.

“The team hasn’t lost in nine games, and that means that we can see that we are doing a good job, but we want to avoid over confidence,” Soldado said.

“The team is doing well, and this is shown in the results. The same in the Champions League. Playing like that is the way to get a good result.”