Inter are hot favourites to progress from this tie but seeing that Schalke already produced quite a few upsets, the Neroazzurri cannot afford to take this game lightly.

Inter couldn’t have wished for worse introduction into the Champions League quarter-finals as the Serie A defeat to fierce rivals Milan not only hurt their title chances but also had a very negative effect to the player’s confidence.

Nonetheless, the Neroazzurri are a very experienced side who are unlikely to get destabilized by a single defeat, even if it was 3:0 loss to bitter rivals Milan.

Boss Leonardo will be looking for a response from his players when they play host to Schalke and I wouldn’t be surprised if Inter win this game with few goals to score.

The Neroazzurri are 2.67 (5/3) to win the game with -1.5 Asian handicap at Bet365.

Giampaolo Pazzini is ineligible to face Schalke, but Diego Milito could return to the starting line-up following the lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Lucio misses out through suspension, while Walter Samuel is unlikely to feature due to injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-2-1): Cesar – Maicon, Cordoba, Rannochia, Chivu – Cambiasso, Motta, Zanetti – Pandev, Sneijder – Eto’o.

Despite largely struggling in their Bundesliga campaign, Schalke have been thoroughly impressive in the Champions League and they made it to the quarter-finals of the competition after eliminating Valencia.

Meanwhile, coach Felix Magath was sacked with Ralf Rangnick brought to replace him and the team have since shown some improvement.

Their weekend’s game against St Pauli was abandoned few minutes before the end when Schalke were leading 2:0 and the players now enter this match high on confidence.

However, boss Rangnick has certain problems before the game in Milan since Peer Kluge and Mario Gavranovic have been ruled out through injury, although Christoph Metzelder could feature despite breaking his nose.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar is still a couple of weeks away from making his return, while Christoph Moritz and Christian Pander are also sidelined. Anthony Annan is ineligible.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Neuer – Uchida, Hoewedes, Metzelder, Sarpei – Jurado, Matip, Draxler, Farfan – Raul, Edu.

Inter are 1.57 (4/7) to win the game at Paddy Power, whereas Schalke are 2.45 (29/20) not to lose at William Hill.