He reached the quarterfinals of the FA Cup without any danger. This pair of Liverpool was definitely not a surprise or even a bit embarrassing. Before the game, many people regarded this game as a formality, but no one expected that Liverpool would almost capsize.

The FA Cup quarterfinals are by no means Liverpool’s goal. Benitez and Liverpool’s management have ambitious goals this year. The double champions are no longer satisfied with them. Their goal is to have a triple crown.

However, after the quarterfinal draw, Benitez and Liverpool's senior executives found that this goal might be difficult to achieve because their opponent is Chelsea.

Chelsea are still 9 points away from the top of the list in the middle of the league. Although head coach Grant has not given up easily, they have become the smallest of the four giants to win the championship. Grant is not unclear about this. The reason why he told the media that he would not give up the league is just for the face of the giants. In fact, in Chelsea's heart, the status of the FA Cup and the Champions League is definitely higher than that of the league.

To be fair, Chelsea's combat effectiveness has gradually begun to recover after experiencing the coach change. With the start of the Champions League knockout stage, Liverpool's energy will be divided into three parts. If Chelsea do its best in the FA Cup, it will not be easy for Liverpool to overcome the Chelsea hurdle.

In the minds of all giants, as long as the chances are equal, the Champions League must occupy the most important position. The second is the league, which can be regarded as a domestic cup in the end. In the British Isles, the FA Cup has a slightly heavier weight due to historical reasons, but it is absolutely impossible to compare with the Champions League and the league.

After learning that the opponent in the quarter-finals was Chelsea, Liverpool's attention turned to the Champions League knockout match against Schalke 04, first putting the FA Cup quarter-finals behind their heads. Now they are going to do their best to beat Schalke 04 away. As for what the FA Cup can achieve, they don't care.

The full name of Schalke 04 is Gelsenkirchen Schalke 04 Football Club. It was founded on May 4, 1904. The club's location is Schalke in the suburbs of Gelsenkirchen. Therefore, it is named Schalke 04 Team. It is a traditional powerhouse in German and European football.

Because the Schalke 04 team is located in the Ruhr Industrial Zone, Gelsenkirchen was once the European coal mining center, the team is nicknamed "Coal Mine Worker" and is also known as "Royal Blue". The home court is the Aoyu Schalke Stadium, which has 55,000 seats and has created 129 decibels shouting, and is now named "Feltings Arena".

Schalke 04 was a founding member when the Bundesliga was founded in 1963, but due to limited strength, Schalke 04 has not won the Bundesliga championship for many years. From 1981 to 1991, Schalke 04 has been relegated three times. By the time he won the German Cup in 2001 and 2002, Schalke 04 embarked on a rapid road of development in the 21st century, including excellent results as the runner-up in the league in 2001, 2005 and 2007.

It can be said that Schalke 04 is now a powerful team with the Bundesliga strength second only to Bayern Munich, although its reputation is far less famous than Bayern.

If Schalke 04 is compared with Liverpool, Schalke 04's honor and heritage are insignificant, but no German team should be underestimated, because the blood of every German team is permeated with the strong spiritual power of the German nation and the rigorous and pragmatic style. Not to mention Schalke 04, which ranks second in the league, even a relegation team cannot be regarded as a bottom. The Germans always have amazing performances in the competition.

Liverpool is a team with rich European experience. In terms of European experience and honors alone, only Real Madrid and Milan are better than them, and other teams are hard to match. Even the Bundesliga boss Bayern can't do it, let alone Schalke 04.

The inspiration that such rich European experience brings to Liverpool is not to underestimate the Bundesliga teams. No matter their strength is strong, they must be fully prepared for their game against them.

Benitez was originally a steady and conservative coach. After the FA Cup, he held a morning meeting for 40 minutes in advance the next morning to discuss the mid-week match with Schalke 04 with all the coaches.

"Schalke 04 cannot be underestimated. Their head coach Slomka is a figure." Tactical analyst Duff McDonov looked solemn. Although the draw of Schalke 04 in the quarterfinals was considered a draw by the outside world, Duff McDonov did not think so. In his opinion, such teams with greater strength than fame are difficult to deal with. With Liverpool's current strength, fame and status and record, he is not afraid of drawing any team, but he is afraid of being careless and underestimating the enemy.

Physical coach Giusto Lilo agreed with Duff McDonov's words, "Slomka is really amazing. He knows people and responsibilities, and dares to boldly use new players. His team is full of vitality and passion. Under his leadership, Schalke 04 is stronger than Rangnick's leadership. If we cannot concentrate and be vigilant, they will cause trouble for us."

Physical coach Giusto Lilo and tactical coach Duff McDonov are Benitez's most trusted person, but Benitez still wants to hear other people's opinions, so he said to chief scout Frank McPalan: "Frank, what do you think?"

Frank and Benitez are not as close to physical coach Giusto Lilo, and tactical coach Duff McDonoff has a close relationship with Benitez, but he has always been meticulous in doing things and is realistic. When he heard Benitez ask him first, Frank was in a better mood. He smiled and said, "Slomka has unique vision in examining young people. Last season, he discovered the potential of Neuer and Ozil and promoted the two to the first team. Since last season, Neuer has squeezed out the "ball dominance" Roster and began to stand alone.

Be careful of him, and Ozil also began to share the playing time of big names such as Lincoln and Asamoa. However, Ozil was sold to Bremen due to the transfer error of the club's senior management. It was so stupid. A genius like Neuer and Ozil could only be produced in ten years. If there was a chance, I hope we can win them. I believe this will definitely be a good deal. Although it is impossible to compare with Chen Yu's transfer, as Chen Yu grows older and reaches the later stage of his career, I think we should prepare in advance."

Frank's occupational disease came out again, and he did not forget to say anything related to his career at this meeting, but what he said really makes sense.

Benitez frowned slightly. He admitted that Frank was a little talented and what he said made sense, but now he talked about this time. There are three days left to go to the Champions League quarterfinals with Schalke 04. Now it is a bit out of place to say that the player transfer is a bit out of date. Frank is very capable, but not flexible enough, and he says these things all day long.

However, Benitez still gave Frank face and said, "Frank is right. Neuer must be careful. However, it is urgent. We should discuss the game first. After all, it will be played on Wednesday night."

Another chief scout, Edualdo Marcia, is a partner and a competitive relationship. After hearing Frank's words, he hurriedly said: "Although Neuer is famous, Jones and Westerman are also very good, and they must not be guarded against them. They may start on Wednesday."

Benitez said: "Schalke 04 is good at youth, but it still takes the old man to put in the team to exert all his abilities. Schalke 04's striker Kuranyi and midfielder Ernst are the candidates we need to focus on defense. In these days of training, we must find a way to deal with them."

Tactical coach Duff said with a smile: "Actually, Kuranyi and Slomka have conflicts. In the last round of the league, I remember when Slomka replaced Kuranyi, Kuranyi refused to shake hands with Slomka. It seems that I heard that Schalke boss Schnusenberg and Supervisory Board Chairman Tonis had conflicts with Slomka. They once claimed in public that they would re-hire a prestigious coach. The generals were not in a match, and the head coach and the boss were not very good. I believe that as long as we can perform well in the first round, Schalke 04's conflict will come out."

Goalkeeper coach Jose Ochutorena said: "In the first leg, we were away, "Feltings Arena" is not easy to mess with, where we will feel the hell atmosphere of Istanbul, and those absentees are very barbaric."

Benitez said: "I will remind the players during training, and everyone will discuss what tactics we use on the away game are the most appropriate."

This is the position of tactical coach Duff, and he said unscrupulously: "Schalke 04 is a team with strong self-esteem. Now they are in the rising period and will definitely not defend at their doorstep. They must hope to use their physical and physical advantages to drag us down. After all, we have been fighting on two fronts recently and have to go to the forefront. I think we should still play against the defensive counterattacks that we are better at. Chen Yu is in front and set up two wingers to guard the road. I think we can definitely suppress the crazy assists of Schalke 04, the two full-backs in Schalke 04. Or let Chen Yu be in front and line up five people in the midfield, and he is not afraid of Schalke 04's attack."

Benitez smiled and said, "Daf is similar to what I think. Chen Yu's physical fitness has been a little problem recently. There is no time to rest and adjust. It is okay for us to play the defensive counterattack, but we need to prepare a few more tactical plans. The game changes rapidly, and we must be fully prepared. Let's take a look at the candidates for the specific position..."
Chapter completed!