Visa problems delay Schalke's departure to England

German club Schalke 04 had a two-hour delay because of visas on Tuesday before flying to England to face Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League semi final, second-leg tie.

United host Schalke on Wednesday with the Germans needing to overturn a 2-0 deficit after they were soundly beaten in Gelsenkirchen last Tuesday.

The Royal Blues were delayed en route as a group of five players from outside the European Union needed visas to fly into the United Kingdom.

The club insist they submitted all documentation on time for Edu (Brazil), Jefferson Farfan (Peru), Atsuto Uchida (Japan), Ali Karimi (Iran) and Junmin Hao (China).

But replacement documents had to be issued before the Gelsenkirchen-based club could fly from Duesseldorf airport.

Schalke are hoping defender Benedikt Hoewedes will have recovered from a strained stomach muscle and the Royal Blues have missed the 23-year-old as they have lost the last three games without him.

Schalke were beaten 4-1 at Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Saturday and coach Ralf Rangnick says his side have corrected a few problems.

"We have learned from the mistakes we made against Manchester and Bayern, I am convinced that we will produce a good performance," he said.

Dutch forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was on the plane to Manchester and is available after a two-month break because of a damaged medial knee ligament.

"Maybe he will get some game time," said Rangnick.

United have never been eliminated from the Champions League after holding a two-goal lead from the first leg and are still unbeaten at home this season in all competitions.

"If we want to manage to pull off a miracle, we'll need to work damned hard to win the ball," said Schalke's Germany defender Christoph Metzelder.