Schalke's director of sport Horst Heldt believes his side left the European stage with their heads held high last night after drawing 2-2 at Athletic Club. 

A 4-2 defeat in the UEFA Europa League quarter final first leg in Gelsenkirchen left Die Königsblauen with a mammoth task in Bilbao, but they gave it their best shot and, according to Heldt, earned plenty of respect for their performance.

"We gave everything and played a great game," he said on his club's website. "We had the chance to make it 3-2 with Lewis Holtby and maybe then we would have got a fourth goal, but we leave Europe in honourable fashion. We wanted a bit too much in the first leg and that was our downfall."

Schalke now have no real chance of winning silverware this season, but Heldt says his side have a lot of positives to look back on. "We played a good competition and teams like Manchester United and Manchester City went out of the Europa League before us," he said. "Schalke have done a lot of good and what our team achieved was top drawer."