Schalke's Weston McKennie demands 'no fear' approach to Manchester City rematch
Weston McKennie has urged his Schalke teammates to adopt the same bullish approach to facing Manchester City that they showed in the first leg when they play for their UEFA Champions League future next month.
Schalke will take on the English Premier League leaders at their Etihad Stadium on 12 March needing to overcome a one-goal deficit to reach the quarter-finals rof the competition following Wednesday's agonising 3-2 defeat on home soil.
It would have been Pep Guardiola's side with ground to make up but for late goals from ex-Schalke prodigy Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling that cancelled out the lead two Nabil Bentaleb penalties had given the hosts at the Veltins Arena.
McKennie believes Domenico Tedesco's squad must match that 'no fear' mentality when they go to England.
"We will go to Manchester with the same attitude as the one with which we approached the first leg, without fear and with self-confidence. It's important for us to keep our heads up, and we'll give it our all," said the USA international midfielder.
'Should have won'
"We showed we can match a team like Manchester City. We had some good spells of possession, made some chances and put everything into it. But we should have won this game or at least drawn it."
Following Sergio Aguero's opener, Schalke hauled themselves in front with Bentaleb nervelessly firing home from the spot twice before the half-time interval with his first penalty also the first awarded by VAR after Daniel Caligiuri's shot was seen to strike Nicolas Otamendi's arm.
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Schalke's run to the final whistle looked to be all the smoother when Otamendi was sent off for a second yellow card just over 20 minutes from time, but Sane came off the bench to equalise with a stunning free-kick before Sterling pounced with just seconds left.
"That's football. We we little unlucky. It was a great free-kick, a great individual goal. The third was unlucky too. Bastian [Oczipka] lost his footing and fell, and Sterling was through on goal," McKennie explained.
"All of us would have liked to have scored another goal and would have gladly gone 3-1 up. But it just didn't happen."
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