Schalke 04 captain Benedikt Howedes has claimed that his side will look to be positive when they meet Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Roberto Di Matteo's side host the defending champions in the first leg on Wednesday evening, and Howedes admits that they must approach the game with a different mentality to the one which led to them suffering a 9-2 aggregate loss at the same stage last season.

"We'd all be in the wrong jobs if we raised the white flag before even facing Real. They're undoubtedly one of the best sides in the world and it's incredibly hard to play against them," the centre-back told bundesliga.com.

"We're outsiders and we need one or two great nights if we want to survive, but it's not impossible. The key will be to make sure we aren't so naive again, like last season.

"We were too attack-minded then, especially in the home game because we wanted to show them what we could do. If you do that against Real, then you're almost inevitably going to get taken apart."

Schalke have been knocked out at the last-16 stage in each of the last three seasons.