Manchester City are heavy favourites to get through the tie and reach the quarter-finals.
And Pep Guardiola will be hoping for a good result so they can turn their focus on Sunday’s Carabao Cup final and the Premier League title race.
City are being tipped to win the Champions League and a strong performance would send a statement to the rest of Europe.
Here are three aspects City need to be mindful of –
Dominate the midfield
Man City are at their strongest when the midfield trio of Fernandinho, David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne are all on the pitch.
And when you add Bernardo Silva, City are almost unplayable.
If City dominate the ball, win it back high up the field and feed runners in Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, it is hard to see Schalke stopping them.
Score an away goal
City blew past the 100 goal mark in January and they are likely to get on the scoresheet again tonight, which will put them in a strong position going into the second leg.
In the Champions League ties last night, Bayern Munich and Barcelona failed to score.
But last week, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid scored twice away from home to put themselves in a strong position.
City will be confident that if they can get an away goal, they will be in full control of the match.
Schalke’s low confidence
The German side are 14th in the Bundesliga having gone four league games without a win.
They’ve also won just two of their last 10 league games.
It means the mood of the Schalke players could be low and if City get a few goals ahead, they could put the tie to bed already.