Played for both: Five Real Madrid and Schalke stars or flops

Gelsenkirchen club Schalke have been hugely consistent in their qualification for Europe’s elite club competition, the Champions League, making it in for four of the last five seasons.

As the hosts, 7/1 outsiders with Coral to qualify from their last 16 tie with holders Real Madrid, have a coach in Roberto Di Matteo that has lifted the trophy before, our experts began to wonder which famous names have turned out for both the Bundesliga boys and La Liga heavyweights?

We put our heads together and came up with five footballers, some hot and some not, that played for Schalke and at the Bernabeu. Read on and discover who we’ve chosen.

Hamit Altintop
This versatile Turkey international was born in Gelsenkirchen, but swapped Schalke for Bayern Munich in 2007. Altintop arrived and exited the Allianz on free transfers, with eyebrow-raising interest from Madrid four years later.

Moving to the Bernabeu didn’t work out for him, however, as he played just five times in La Liga under Jose Mourinho, so Altintop was sold to Galatasaray in 2012. Check out his only goal for Madrid below:

Raul Gonzalez
Here’s one Real icon that went on to turn out for Schalke too. Raul remains, for another season at least, Los Blancos’ all-time top scorer, but has Cristiano Ronaldo breathing down his neck with yet another prolific campaign from the Portuguese superstar.

Coral offer a matchday special of 3/1 on Ronaldo netting twice or more in Gelsenkirchen (max stake £20), as he currently sits 35 goals behind Gonzalez. After almost 20 years man and boy at the Bernabeu, Raul switched to Schalke in 2010 and proved he could cut in the Bundesliga too.