GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AFP) - Chelsea boss Avram Grant admitted his side were fortunate to pick up a point at Schalke 04 after the Bundesliga outfit dominated Tuesday night's Champions League clash.

The English giants stay top of Champions League Group B with eight points after the 0-0 draw, but are now feeling the pressure from rivals Rosenborg who are just a point behind after their surprise 2-0 win at Valencia.

Chelsea now face a difficult away assignment at Rosenborg in Trondheim, Norway, at the end of the month and Grant's outfit were lucky to leave Gelsenkirchen with a point against a spirited, but injury-hit, Schalke side.

"The result is not bad," said Grant, who lost goalkeeper Petr Cech with a calf injury at half-time.

"It is always difficult to get a result here, we didn't play our best game.

"I expect my team to play better but we have to say a good word about Schalke. They played hard, they were very aggressive.

"They needed the points, so it was what we expected from the game.

"I don't know about Cech's injury yet. All I know is he came off because he couldn't continue. Now we have to wait and see."

And Chelsea's England star Frank Lampard admitted Schalke's passionate fans made a difference.

"It was a difficult night. Schalke are a good team with big crowd behind them.

"There are times when you've got to come away and get a point."

The Germans were humbled 1-0 by the Bundesliga's bottom side Energie Cottbus last Friday, but were unlucky not to pick up all three points on Tuesday night as they had 15 shots on goal compared to Chelsea's eight.

"We played very well," said Shalke coach Mirko Slmoka, whose side are third after four Champions League matches.

"We dominated the game and I think we were the best team.

"We knew Chelsea could counter-attack us constantly and they were very effective.

"We had to react well after our defeat by Cottbus and the team showed character.

"It is always a danger against a small team, I'd always much rather play a Bayern Munich or a Chelsea.

"We now have to now win at least one of our two remaining matches (against Rosenborg and Valencia) and both games will be tough."

The home side's hopes of reviving their flagging Champions League campaign had suffered a hammer blow in the days before kick-off as they lost both of their German internationals.

First striker Kevin Kuranyi was ruled out with a thigh injury he picked up in the Bundesliga last weekend, then defender Christian Pander also succumbed to injury with damaged knee ligaments.

And flu-hit midfielder Fabian Ernst's participation was denied by illness, but his side gave the English giants a real run for their money.

Schalke were gunning for revenge after losing 2-0 at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago and Slomka opted for a Christmas tree formation with Danish striker Soren Larsen up front.

Chelsea coach Grant had lone striker Didier Drogba playing off England star Joe Cole and Frenchman Florent Malouda, while England's Lampard was always a threat in midfield.

But it was the Bundesliga outfit who got off to the best start with Heiko Westermann twice going close early on while at the other end Drogba was denied by Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer as it stayed 0-0 at half-time.

Chelsea goalkeeper Cech had picked up a nasty gash on his leg midway through the first half and was substituted at half-time for Italian shot-stopper Carlo Cudicini.

He was tested just five minutes after the restart when midfielder Mesut Oezil held off a posse of three defenders to smash his shot straight at the Italian.

And Schalke's Brazilian defender Rafinha hit the crossbar on 77 minutes as the German side poured forward.

With 15 minutes to go England forward Shawn Wright-Phillips was introduced for Malouda and the Premier League side threatened only on occasion.

Chelsea's Michael Essien let his frustrations get the better of him when he hauled down Westermann six minutes from time with a dangerous tackle to earn a yellow card.

The best chance of the game came on 87 minutes when Schalke's midfielder Ivan Rakitic had Cudicini beaten with his shot which hammered back harmlessly off the post, moments after the Croatian picked up a yellow card.

Chelsea could only breathe a collective sigh of relief at the final whistle.