Rangnick wary of Inter backlash

Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick said he fears an Inter Milan backlash in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final.

The European Champions were soundly beaten in the Milan derby at the weekend, leaving their Serie A title hopes in tatters.

And Rangnick is concerned Inter may take out their frustrations on his visiting Schalke outfit in Tuesday’s first-leg match.

“I can imagine they are under pressure, because it is always a big blow for them to lose a derby against Milan,” Rangnick said. “We, on the other hand, have nothing to lose.”

“We are playing the defending champions, and we are the favourites to go out. However we are very much looking forward to this game and we will try to give our best.”

“It would be presumptuous to expect a 3-0 win tomorrow. That said, we want to get a good result, and to get that we have to do what we have shown we can do against St Pauli, except much better.”

Schalke were dealt a blow in the lead up to the match with both Peer Kluge and Mario Gavranovic ruled out due to injury.

However, Christoph Metzelder is still a chance to line up at the San Siro on Tuesday despite breaking his nose against St Pauli at the weekend.

“Metze has every chance of playing, despite the broken nose,” said Rangnick, who is also considering Kyriakos Papadopoulos for a place in the centre of his defence.

“We need the inexperienced players to use games like this to gain experience.”

“But I think that, for example, the aggression of Kyriakos could help us in such a game. The biggest mistake would be to play there without the necessary aggression.”