Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Real Madrid travel to Camp Nou on Tuesday for the game that Jose Mourinho last week said would be ‘impossible’ for them to win.
The self-titled ‘Special One’ was not dissing his own players’ talents in that rant, rather it was part of his personal, and long, lament against the perceived injustices he saw in the first leg of this Champions League semi-final.
The Portuguese’s post-match conspiracy theories, and all the ugly scenes seen in a game that was meant to be a clash of two of the continent’s most attractive sides, take quite a bit of the gloss off of the appeal of Tuesday’s game in Barcelona.
And yet it is Barcelona v Real Madrid – a game that should always be looked forward to!
But, five El Classicos in one season has pointed to overkill, and Real’s hopes of making the Wembley final against either Manchester United or Schalke look to have been killed off after Lionel Messi’s double in the second half at the Bernabeu last Wednesday.
In that first leg, Mourinho sent out a defensive, or to put it more strongly a negative, line-up and it backfired as Messi’s two away goals left his side staring elimination directly in the face. Both Messi goals were class acts, but class acts were few and far between on the night as a series of childish rows broke out during and between the two halves of action.
Mourinho himself was sent to the stands after reacting adversely to the sending-off of his defender Pepe, while the general simulating and spikiness seen from both sets of players is something Tuesday’s game can well do without, and yet you feel - after the post-match words of Mourinho, Barca’s complaints over it, Real’s complaints about Barca, Uefa’s rebuttal of both clubs’ complaints and Uefa’s own long list of offences attributed to the clubs as a result of the first leg – that the bad and the ugly are every bit as likely to surface again on Tuesday as the good.
Barca, whose good normally outweighs their bad, know they are in the box seat, but Pep Guardiola will not let them think they are in the Wembley decider until after Tuesday’s final whistle and the former midfielder is hampered by injury doubts again, as he was for the first leg.
Adriano and Eric Abidal remain on the sidelines, while Carles Puyol – who played out of position at left back in the first leg – is another doubt, as is further left back option Maxwell. Gabriel Milito is another injured defender, so Sergio Busquets may be dropped into defence after fellow midfielder Javier Mascherano coped poorly there in the weekend defeat to Real Sociedad.
Andres Iniesta will be one notable returnee after missing the first leg through injury. He returned to training on Monday and will replace Seydou Keita in the team that started the first leg if he is declared fully fit.
Substitute goalkeeper Jose Pinto is suspended after he was another red card victim in the first leg, for his part in a half-time scuffle.
Like Barca, Real lost at the weekend as they went down 3-2 at home to Real Zaragoza, and they too have real problems at the back, with Pepe and Sergio Ramos suspended after their first leg indiscretions.
Ricardo Carvalho is available again after suspension, while Mourinho is expected to only go with one out and out striker, with Emmanuel Adebayor the likely starter over Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil will be asked for more thrust in attack, but midfielders Sami Khedira and Fernando Gago remain injury absentees. Mourinho, of course, must watch from the stands.
With Barca’s crowning as Spanish champions imminent they are set to make it a very wrenching couple of weeks for Real, and Mourinho would be a miracle worker, more so than a Special One, if he can guide his side into turning this one around.
Possible line-ups:
Barcelona: Valdes, Dani Alves, Pique, Busquets, Puyol, Xavi, Mascherano, Iniesta, Pedro, Messi, Villa.
Real Madrid: Casillas, Arbeloa, Carvalho, Albiol, Marcelo; Alonso, Diarra; Di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo; Adebayor.