Kuranyi tips deep Schalke run

Former Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi is confident that Huub Stevens’ side can reach the Champions League semi-finals this term.

The Bundesliga club sealed qualification from the group stage on matchday five with a 1-0 win over Olympiakos.

And the 30-year-old Kuranyi believes a repeat of the club’s run in 2010/11, when they reached the Champions League’s final four, is not out of reach.

“They have got through the group stage very well. And anything is possible in the knock-out stage,” Kuranyi told Goal.com.

“I think they can follow the same path as they did in 2011. I think that the team is set up really well. They have a great mixture of experience and young players.

“They also have Huub Stevens, a very good trainer. So, Schalke are a strong team.”

The current edition of the Champions League has seen three German teams qualify for the knockout stages, which Kuranyi believes is a sign of the growth of the Bundesliga.

“You see the Bundesliga compared to the top teams in Europe more and more. Its teams have developed well in Europe,” he said.

“In the Bundesliga, there’s a lot of competition, which has had an affect on how the clubs do in Europe. It’s not just in the Champions League – German football is well represented in the Europa League, too.”

Kuranyi left the Veltins Arena in 2010 for Dinamo Moscow, but is not thinking about a return to the Bundesliga.

“I am fully focussed on Dinamo Moscow and trying to achieve our goals with the team. But in football you never know. I haven’t been thinking about another club,” he said.

Schalke’s final Group B game sees them face Montpellier in France on Tuesday.