Champions League Betting Preview FC Schalke 04 vs Manchester United - 04-25-11

April 25 - Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 26), Manchester United will face FC Schalke 04 at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, in the first of their two UEFA Champions League semi-final clashes, and in terms of UEFA Champions League betting action, leading online sportsbook Bodog.com has United as the early 2.25 betting favorites.

But odds aside, tomorrow's FC Schalke 04 vs Manchester United showdown should be interesting as both teams will be hungry for a victory and will thus pull out all the stops.

Manchester United, who are no doubt the stronger team, will be eager to dominate Schalke on German soil to ease the pressure when they host the Germans in their second semi-final clash on Wednesday, May 4. Equally, for a chance at reaching the UEFA Champions League final, it is crucial for Schalke to chalk up a home victory to ease the pressure of playing one of the world's strongest premier division teams in front of their home crowd.

Interestingly, while Manchester United seems to thrive going into games as the favorites, Schalke seems to thrive going into games as the underdogs, another reason why Tuesday's match will be closely watched by football betting fans all over the world.

Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer echoed this sentiment. 'I'm not worried about our underdog status against Manchester United - we enjoyed playing that role against Inter,' he said. The goalkeeper was referring to Schalke's surprise Champions League quarter-final defeat of top-rated La Liga club, Inter Milan, who was favored by oddsmakers to beat the Bundesliga club.

'It was certainly surprising, especially after we fell behind after only 20 seconds and then later went 2-1 down. Nobody thought we could score five at San Siro. Our fans had faith in us, but I don't think they believed we'd go through in the way we did,' said Neuer.

But Manchester United are not Inter Milan, as the Red Devils have a habit of coming back from goal deficits to win crucial matches, not too mention the fact they boast some of the world's most talented players. That said, Manchester United will be without one of their best players on Tuesday in the form of forward Dimitar Berbatov, who will miss the match on account of a groin injury. United midfielders Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves, and forward Bebe will also be absent.

This is obviously good news for Schalke, who will be hoping their top players - such as striker Raul, striker Edu, centre back Metzelder and defender Papadopoulo - will take full advantage of Berbatov's absence. For our money, however, Berbatov or no Berbatov, the Germans will have their hands full against Manchester United, and will likely go down 3-1.

Here are the latest UEFA Champions League semi-final odds at Bodog.com: