The draw for the Uefa Champions League semi-finals took place in Nyon, Switzerland, with a first El Clasico final in the tournament’s history still a possibility as Barcelona and Real Madrid were drawn apart.
Here is a look at the two matchups, and what to look out for when the sides meet in the two-legged affairs next month on May 5/6 and 12/13 as they bid to reach the final in Berlin on June 6.
Barcelona v Bayern Munich
“Appreciate them while they are still here,” said Pep Guardiola of the special group of Barcelona players he led to two Uefa Champions League titles during the four fabulous years that launched Guardiola as the most admired coach of his generation. He added, almost as a warning to followers of the club: “When they are gone, you will miss them.”
How much do Barcelona miss Guardiola? He left in 2012, and three different coaches have been in charge since, the latest, Luis Enrique being, like Guardiola a former Barca captain and manager of Barca B.
The tactical joust between these two friends and close contemporaries fascinates, as do the issues of how the likes of Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Dani Alves and Gerard Pique — totems of Guardiola’s era at Camp Nou, the players he urged fans to appreciate — respond against a Bayern that includes many of the players who walloped and bullied Barcelona to a 4-0 defeat in Germany in the semi-final of 2013.
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There are deeper layers of subtext: Thiago Alcantara, of Bayern, against his old club, and perhaps against his brother, Rafinha.
Perhaps a last competitive meeting between the great midfield strategists of Spanish football in the 21st century, Barca’s Xavi Hernández and Bayern’s Xabi Alonso. It is hard to pick favourites in this tie.
However, Barca will take encouragement from the way Porto troubled Bayern in the first of two very distinct legs of the quarter-finals, and the menace a front three of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez might bring to a Bayern defence missing key men with long-term injuries.
For Guardiola, above all, the return to the club of his childhood, where he won the European Cup as a player and coach, will be emotional.
For Luis Enrique, it will be the ultimate examination of how far he has taken a team constantly measured against the standards set by his friend, Pep The Inimitable.
Juventus v Real Madrid
Real Madrid will envy Juventus their cruise towards the Serie A title over the next two weeks.
While the defending European champions live on their nerves through a sapping chase to catch Barcelona at the top of the Primera Liga, Juve can devote their best energies solely to the confrontations between them and a first Champions League final for 12 years, resting key personnel if needs be for the domestic matches ahead of and in between the European games.
That is Juve’s privilege as the soaring leaders in an Italian league they have won for the past three seasons and will win again.
They are nevertheless underdogs against a Madrid side who had little hesitation selling to the Italians the striker Alavro Morata last summer.
Such is Madrid’s firepower up front, Morata was deemed surplus at the Bernabeu. He is thriving in Italy and will have some points to prove in this tie.
It is a rerun of the 1998 final, which Madrid won 1-0, a turning point in the see-saw of power across southern Europe. Juve were appearing in their third successive final that day; they have reached just one since.
Madrid were collecting the trophy for the first time in 32 years with their victory in Amsterdam; they have won it three times since.
Juve have conceded just one goal in their last nine hours of European football, a daunting record to confront the celebrated front line of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale — the last two should overcome fitness issues — and a tribute to the evergreen skills of goalkeeper Gigi Buffon.
His duel with Madrid’s Iker Casillas — the two men rated the world’s best in their position for most of the last 15 years — will also have a bearing.
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