Schalke travel to the San Siro for the first leg, with the return fixture in the Arena AufSchalke a week later and Heldt is looking forward to both games.

Having suffered against the might of Barca previously in his career, Heldt's primary hope was to avoid the Catalans.

"The worst moment is when Barcelona's name came out and we were still in the draw," Heldt told Schalke's official website.

"I have played against Barcelona twice with Stuttgart and I don't have very fond memories of them.

"Inter is a very, very strong opponent. You could see that in the last round when they beat Bayern Munich.

"Inter were practically out of the competition, but they still managed to turn the tie around.

"We are looking forward to the challenge. The good thing is we start off at 0-0 and I am really looking forward to the two games."

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer believes that the Royal Blues have every chance of setting up a semi-final clash with either Chelsea or Manchester United.

"Maybe it is a good omen that Schalke won at the San Siro in (the UEFA Cup final in) 1997," he said.

"It could also be an advantage to us playing away from home first.

"However, their previous round has got to be a warning to us because they lost at home to Bayern, but still went through with a 3-2 win in Munich.

"Drawing the defending champions is a fantastic draw."

Inter Milan will not underestimate Schalke despite getting an apparently favourable draw in the Champions League quarter-finals, according to team captain Javier Zanetti.

"We must respect Schalke because it will be a difficult game just like the rest," Zanetti told www.inter.it.

"You don't arrive to the Champions League quarter-finals just like that."

Schalke beat Inter on penalties in the 1996-97 UEFA Cup final and Zanetti has not forgotten that painful defeat.

"I remember it," he said. "We lost that final and now we have an opportunity to avenge that defeat by progressing to the next round."

As for the prospect of Chelsea or United in the last four, Zanetti added: "We hope first to progress to the next round and then we will see what happens.

"We really want to go all the way to the final in Wembley."