Good evening and welcome to LIVE text commentary of the first-leg of the Champions League Last-16 tie between Schalke 04 and holders Real Madrid at the Veltins-Arena. Kick off 7.45pm GMT.

LATEST: Basel 1-0 Porto

Schalke fielding five defenders tonight to try and cope with Real's front three.

An early yellow as Toni Kroos goes in the book for a trip on Howedes as the German looked to break.

Nice play by Roman Neustadter and Maxim Choupo-Moting to tee up a chance to shoot from distance for Kevin-Prince Boateng, but he dallies and Real get back to avert the danger.

DID YOU KNOW? Schalke have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Only Bayern Munich have done better among German clubs in that period.

Elsewhere tonight, Basel host Porto.

The home crowd in fine voice in these early moments and there are one or two great banners around too.

Benzema caught offside as Real look to be the first to truly threaten. So far, nothing from Huntelaar and co.

Both sides still settling into this one, so I will thrill you with the news that tonight's referee is England's Martin Atkinson.

Schalke don't need reminding that they were given a severe drubbing by Real on home turf last season - and the match odds reflect that... Schalke 7/1, Real Madrid 2/5, Draw 4/1

KICK OFF! Schalke gets us underway against a Real side that don't look so pretty in pink!

As we await the imminent arrival of the players on the pitch, I thought this was worth a mention. The Eurosport team's views on the best sports computer game of all time. Got to say, it's Sensible World of Soccer for me (@paul_hassall).

Ronaldo has not netted in his last three matches for Los Blancos. The last time he failed to score in four on the spin was back in February 2011. Worth pointing out that he has scored 57 times in 57 CL appearances for the Spanish giants, though.

Real's attacking trio netted a brace apiece on their last visit to Schalke. #Ominous

Carlo Ancelotti: "After a result like the one against Atletico, it is all about turning things around as quickly as possible. Against Deportivo, Cristiano Ronaldo was in good physical shape. He has not scored for a little while [three games], but he will have a chance to rectify that soon enough. Defending the Champions League title is a fantastic motivation. Last year we were here with the dream of winning the Champions League. Now we have the same dream. History says it will be really difficult, almost impossible, but we have to try."

Roberto Di Matteo: "We are playing against the reigning champions but we will still go into the game with the aim of winning it. It is going to be a test for us to see how far we have developed in the past weeks and months. We want to take advantage of the very few weaknesses Real has."

VIDEO: All the stats ahead of Schalke v Real.

The sides met at this stage of the competition last season with Real Madrid quite literally hitting 'Die Knappen' for six in an embarrassingly one-sided 6-1 success in Germany. Ex-Chelsea boss, Roberto Di Matteo is now at the helm and despite his team coming into this one on the back of a 1-0 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt, he is confident they will not suffer a similar humiliation this year.

Hot off the press!

Want to know a bit more about Lucas Silva? Check out this lowdown from Eurosport World Cup 2014 blogger, Jack Lang from December.

Schalke are boosted by the return to fitness of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who missed training last week with a virus. The Dutch hitman struck a sensational last-minute volley in the 6-1 loss last year and will be key to any hopes the Germans have of ousting the reigning champions.