Real Madrid and Schalke have named their starting sides for their friendly at the German side’s Veltin-Arena on Sunday.
The 15-time European champions make the trip to Gelsenkirchen to mark the 25th anniversary of the opening of the stadium, where Madrid boss Jose Mourinho won the Champions League final with Porto against Monaco in 2004.
Madrid have enjoyed a strong pre-season with wins over Leganes, Ferencvaros and Deportivo La Coruna and a draw with Fiorentina and begin their Liga campaign at Espanyol on August 22 (20:30 BST).
Schalke won the German second tier last season and start their season away to fourth-tier Hallescher in the German Cup on August 24 (19:45 BST), followed by their league opener at Augsburg six days later (16:30).
𝟐𝟓 𝐉𝐀𝐇𝐑𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐙𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 😍#S04 | #S04RMA pic.twitter.com/L3aUcTOjhr
— FC Schalke 04 (@s04) August 16, 2026
Schalke confirmed starting team vs Real Madrid
Schalke starting XI: Loris Karius, Hasan Kurucay, Timo Becker, Ron Schallenberg, Moussa Sylla, Junior Adamu, Dejan Ljubicic, Soufiane El-Faouzi, Adil Aouchiche, Nikola Katic, Vitalie Becker
Schalke substitutes: Kevin Muller, Mertcan Ayhan, Janik Bachmann, Edin Dzeko, Christian Gomis, Dylan Leonard, Finn Porath, Satoshi Tanaka, Luca Vozar, Maximilian Wober
Madrid full line up vs Schalke
Madrid make four changes, including Thibaut Courtois’ return in goal, a debut for Ibrahima Konate in defence, Federico Valverde’s reintroduction in midfield and Kylian Mbappe – last season’s Liga top scorer – coming in up front.
Defender Eder Militao, midfielder Thiago Pitarch and forward Rodrygo are all out with knee injuries, as is Ferland Mendy (tendon).
Real Madrid starting XI: Thibaut Courtois, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras, Federico Valverde, Bernardo Silva, Brahim Diaz, Arda Güler, Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe
Real Madrid substitutes: Andrii Lunin, Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Marc Cucurella, Carlos Espi, Antonio Rudiger, Denzel Dumfries, Yan Diomande, Jorge Cestero, Mario Rivas, Alexis Ciria, Illia Voloshyn
Where to watch Schalke v Madrid: TV and online streams
Kick-off on Sunday is at 16:00 BST (10:00 ET / 07:00 PT). Live coverage in the UK is on DAZN, which costs £15.99 a month, with live streaming on the DAZN app.
Schalke v Real Madrid stats
- Schalke suffered a 4-2 defeat to Sevilla in their only meeting with a Spanish side last season, Moussa Sylla and Mauro Zalazar scoring in front of almost 46,000 fans in a friendly in July 2025 in Gelsenkirchen
- Their last competitive meeting with a Spanish team was against Madrid in the Champions League last 16 in March 2015, winning 4-3 away but exiting 5-4 on aggregate
- That is Schalke’s only win over Madrid, losing 6-1 at home and 3-1 away at the same stage of the 2013/14 competition in their other encounters
- Madrid all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in three of those matches and once in another for a total of seven goals against Schalke
- In competitive games against Spanish teams, Schalke’s record is W8 D7 L12, last prevailing in such a match with a 3-1 home victory over Valencia in the 2010/11 Champions League last 16 to complete a 4-2 aggregate win
- Promoted as champions last season, The Royal Blues won three more matches (21) than any other team in the second tier and had the best defensive record by eight goals, conceding 31 times across 34 league games
- Loris Karius kept two more clean sheets (13) than any other goalkeeper in the division, twice helping Schalke keep four clean sheets across five consecutive matches in the league
- The last three Spanish clubs to visit Schalke competitively have won, including Athletic Club triumphing 4-2 in the 2011/12 Europa League quarter-finals as part of a tie they won 6-4 on aggregate
- Los Blancos’ competitive record against German teams is W44 D16 L26, although they lost both such games last season with a 2-1 home defeat and 4-3 away loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals
- They had won their preceding four such matches as part of a nine-game unbeaten run against German clubs (W7 D2)
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