With United imperious at Old Trafford this season, Tuesday's 2-0 win in the Gelsenkirchen first leg virtually secured their passage to the Wembley final on May 28 and gives Ferguson the unlikely option of rotating his team for two huge Premier League matches against Arsenal and Chelsea.
Ryan Giggs got the first goal, becoming the oldest scorer in the Champions League at 37 years and 148 days, with Wayne Rooney adding the second as United finally found a way past outstanding goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
"You'd think at 37 he'd show signs of waning but I see no evidence of that," Ferguson said in the wake of Giggs' superb display as an attacking central midfielder.
"We look after him in terms of rest before games - he won't play on Sunday (against Arsenal), but he'll play next Wednesday (in the second leg).
"I've got good options because Nani could have played, but (Antonio) Valencia's form showed why he is playing. We've got (Paul) Scholes and Anderson. We've got selection problems now, but that's what we want. We've got important games coming up.
"The way I'm going to look at it is that we want to get Sunday's game over and get a positive result because that is a very important game for us now.
"Depending on the result on Sunday I could make two or three changes (for the second leg) because we have Chelsea the following Sunday.
"It is a seven-day period which is crucial to the club but it is the kind of games the players are relishing. I think we are coming to a peak."
Rooney's second two minutes later allowed United to ease off the gas but even then Schalke failed to trouble them.
United's centre-backs Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic barely broke sweat while full backs Patrice Evra and Fabio played as virtual wingers.
