Champions League semi finals: Will Mourinho finally win against Barcelona? Will Schalke surprise Manchester United too?

The quarter finals are over & as it has become a tradition, all encounters produced exciting & high scoring encounters. Whilst in most pundits' view, Barcelona with Messi & co were once again in another class, the humiliation handed down to Inter Milan by Germany's Schalke led by the Champions League legend Raul & possibly currently the best keeper in the world Neuer was undoubtedly the one of the greatest shocks in the CL history. Inter Milan have been a pale shade of the team that won in Madrid in May 2010 & were very lucky to get to the QF anyway. Nevertheless, no one could have ever predicted an aggregate 7-3 double loss elimination by erratic yet potent Schalke, whose players seem to be once again enjoying their football after the sacking of much criticised Magath.

I predicted 3 out of 4 overall results right. I still believe this Manchester United side is not as good as the teams that reached the final in the last few years & expected Chelsea to beat them.

As for the semi final pairings, both are very hard to predict! In case of Real & Barcelona, this is due to multiple matches the clubs will have to play each other in the coming weeks. Barcelona under the magnificent coaching of Guardiola & the irresistible magical displays of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Villa & co have beaten Real Madrid 5 times so far including a 5-0 in La Liga earlier this year. Real & Barcelona will however meet twice in CL semi finals as well as in La Liga & the Spanish Cup in the coming weeks. It will be a chess game between two master tacticians & interesting to watch. Both Mourinho & Guardiola would rather win the CL semi final matches & lose the other two.

with regards to the other semi final pairing of Manchester United vs Schalke, as I said in my last post about Schalke, they may be underdogs but on their day have the players & the finesse to beat anyone, and with their coaching issues resolved, they may even dispose of Manchester United, although United are a much more formidable opponent than Inter Milan ever was.

So, here's my prediction for the final: Barcelona vs Schalke

(although my head tells me Manchester United will be there in the final!)