The 40-year-old will join former Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele by making his 13th semi-final appearance when Manchester United tackle Schalke. It is a quirk of Van der Sar's career that the first six of them came during his youthful days at Ajax. He had to wait until his latter years to enjoy such achievements again. However, having confirmed his retirement plans for the summer, Van der Sar knows May 28 at Wembley could represent the most fitting send-off imaginable. "It is always nice when you are involved in a winning team," he said. "We have been good recently, so hopefully we can carry that on. "I have had a reasonable career so far. Let's hope I can finish it off nicely." Van der Sar has so far resisted the temptation to reverse his decision despite repeated attempts from inside United's dressing room. When he is still capable of pulling off the type of fingertip stop that denied Everton's Jack Rodwell at the weekend, it is easy to see why so many observers feel he could carry on. Yet Van der Sar is wary about losing his powers overnight and has no wish to put his theory to the test. In any case, for now he has more than enough to concentrate on. And this evening he was happy to express his admiration for another veteran, and the most obvious threat to United reaching their fifth European Cup final, Raul, a comparative stripling at 33. "Raul is quite an amazing player," said Van der Sar. "He had so many years at Real Madrid at a high level and scored so many goals for them in the league. In addition, he is top scorer in the Champions League. "He is not someone you can lose your eyesight of. "He is so dangerous and only needs a little chance to score a goal." Good enough therefore for Van der Sar to issue a warning to Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and company about concentration that is probably not required. "Our defenders should be on their toes when they play against him," he added.
