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Schalke will avoid Real Madrid thrashing this time around, says Di Matteo

Reuters

Schalke manager Roberto Di Matteo believes his side will not suffer another humiliating defeat at the hands of Real Madrid when the two sides kick off their round-of-16 tie on Wednesday at the Veltins-Arena.

The German side were hammered 9-2 on aggregate by Los Blancos in this same stage of the competition last season, losing the opening leg 6-1 at home to effectively end any hopes of advancing to the next round.

But the Italian bench boss is confident things will be different this time around.

"It'll be a test of how far we've come at an international level, how far the guys have developed and improved," Di Matteo was quoted as saying by FIFA.com. "Obviously Real are the favourites over the two games but I think we have a bit more experience of these games now and hopefully we can show that tomorrow."

Di Matteo, who replaced Jens Keller at the helm of the club in October after a sluggish start to the campaign, is hopeful his team will learn from last season's drubbing, but was quick to note they will not dwell on it.

"That's experience but that's the past," he said. "I'm coaching a different team now and we're playing against the current Champions League holder - a great team. So I think it's a different situation. We just want to show that we've improved - that we're a better team than in the past."

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