25 November,2010 09:06 AM IST | | Agencies
Schalke 04 coach Felix Magath said he expects his side to now improve their Bundesliga form as they reached the last 16 of the Champions League after their 3-0 win over Lyon.
Although they are 15th in the German league, Schalke top Group B with three wins and 10 points ahead of their last game against Benfica on December 12 as in-form Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netted twice on Wednesday.
After losing their first five German league games of the season, Magath now wants his side to replicate the impressive display against Lyon when his team face Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
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| Schalke's Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan (front) and Schalke's Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar celebrate the opening goal Olympique Lyonnais (France). AFP PHOTO |
"We have qualifed with a game still to be played and it's a nice feeling, because for weeks we have been written off.
"We played really well, especially in the first 30 minutes.
"This suggests that we have found our form again and now we need to refocus on the Bundesliga."
After his team beat beat Bremen 4-0 in the league last Saturday, Magath said his side look to have finally turned the corner and can take only positives from their performance against Lyon.
"The opening period pleased me the most, we took control of the game from the start," he said.
"We have got some stability now and the results speak for themselves that we are improving.
"I am very happy we will progress, but we want to win in Lisbon to finish off the job.
"There is better harmony in the team now."
Despite the defeat Lyon will also go through to the last 16 as Benfica lost to Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv in Israel and have a worse head to head record with the French side.
"The fact we have qualified is overshadowed by our performance," said Lyon coach Claude Puel.
"We were disappointing tonight and qualification does not hide our bad performance.
"There is not much to say.
"Congratulations to Schalke 04 who had the necessary ingredients, played with plenty of inspiration and aggressiveness.
"They had us in trouble very quickly and fully deserved his victory.
"We must correct very quickly the mistakes that we saw tonight."
Schalke took control of the game from the whistle and raced into a 2-0 lead after just 20 minutes thanks to goals by Jefferson Farfan and Huntelaar before the Dutchman completed the rout with an 89th-minute goal.
The Royal Blues went ahead when Spanish striker Raul -- who scored a hat-trick in the hammering of Bremen -- fed Farfan and the Peru star fired home from 11 metres out before Huntelaar rifled his shot in on 20 minutes.
Lyon lost midfielder Yoann Gourcuff when the France international was stretchered off on 58 minutes.
Huntelaar added his second of the game in the dying stages as the ball took a deflection over Lloris and into the goal to complete the comprehensive defeat.
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