When the draw for the final eight in the UEFA Champions League came out, you could almost sense a sigh of relief – from the neutrals at least – that Real Madrid and Barcelona were drawn in separate halves. That almost ‘rubberstamped’ a Real-Barca final; and that was what everyone – read neutrals, again – wanted. And this is ostensibly because the two Spanish giants are by far and away the two best sides in Europe; and seeing them lock horns in the final for the Holy Grail of European football would’ve had been a fitting finale. While the “top two in Europe” assertion does carry its fair share of weight, both Real and Barca head into the return legs of their semifinals trailing by a goal and facing two sides that are seemingly hell bent on spoiling the “All Spanish” party for the final. Chelsea take a 1-0 win to the Nou Camp, which was achieved courtesy a stats-defying resilient showing. Petr Cech produced one of the performances of a lifetime in goal, as Barca conjured up all the tika-taka in the world, had several lions’ share of possession but failed to score at the Bridge. As much as we love to wax lyrical over the Catalonian giants’ all-conquering, all-powering feats – which of course is well deserved most of the times- Barcelona have struggled to beat the side from Stamford Bridge. In fact Wednesday’s defeat makes it six games in a row now that the Spanish champions have failed to beat the Blues. Chelsea now need a draw, or even a loss by a one goal margin– as long as they score – to go through to the final. All the same, pulling that off at the Nou Camp – where Barca have won 27 of their 30 games this season, scoring 104 goals and conceding merely 16 – is obviously no cakewalk. Barcelona would indubitably enjoy as much possession on Tuesday – if not more – that they did in London, and them not finding the back of the net at the Camp Nou is one of the biggest anomalies in sports. Hence, all out defence should never be the go-to play of the away side at Camp Nou, even though Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan pulled off a stunning defensive show at the same stage two years ago. What makes defensive tactics against Barcelona on their home turf unadvisable, is the dimensions of the pitch, which when coupled with Barca’s possession play makes it impossible for the away side to hide or cover all the bases so to speak. Camp Nou is both much longer and wider than the average football pitch, which makes it tailor-made for passing football and keeping possession. Chelsea can’t possibly look for their counter-attacking stratagem again – especially since Gerard Pique would be back – and hence, the Blues would need some level of attacking intent to prevail on Tuesday. While a Real-Barca final was a “foregone conclusion” a long time back, there were few voices that whispered the fact that ignoring Bayern Munich wasn’t a particularly wise idea. The reasons flaunted by these connoisseurs were a) Munich would be hosting the final, hence the added incentive to try and be a part of it; and b) they are a pretty decent side. Real Madrid would bear witness to the second point themselves, after ending up on the wrong end of a 2-1 defeat at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday – courtesy goals from Franch Ribery and Mario Gomez. Bayern showcased all the determination in the world in the first leg, and clearly outplayed their much extolled rivals. The front four of Gomes, Toni Kroos, Ribery and Arjen Robben were pivotal in Munich’s triumph and they’d be extremely important again since, Munich can’t afford to sit on their single goal lead. A 1-0 win for Madrid would see the Spanish side through on away goal rules, and Mourinho – the quintessential micro-manager – has made a remarkable career pulling off wins of that particular kith and kin; doing exactly what needs to be done. It goes without saying that Munich would need to keep a check on Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday. If the Portuguese finds his groove then the one goal cushion might end up being a false dawn. The game could be won or lost on the attacking flanks, with Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria marauding on the wings for Madrid and Robben and Ribery providing the attacking impetus from out wide for the Germans. Both games are hanging on the proverbial knife edge, and all four of them could just as easily go through. But considering the fact that the two Spanish sides would be at home, they might just end up overcoming the respective single-goal deficits.
