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Jose and Guardiola looking serious..

Inter Milan and Barcelona Clash the Semi-Finals

Barcelona are favourites for the Champions League but to get to the final at the home of their bitter rivals, they will need to get past Inter Milan.

Inter upset the odds when they toppled Chelsea from the tournament and perhaps this is the year that Jose Mourinho adds to his status by getting back to another Champions League final. The two sides met in the group stages of the Champions League and the semi-final games are set to be as tight as they were. What’s brilliant about these matches is that there is a huge sense of history between the two squads that could come to the fore in such a vital clash.

One of the most important battles will be the one that goes on between Samuel Eto’o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The two players swapped squads in the summer and both will be determined to get to the final with their new club.

Samuel Eto’o is the man with the golden touch in Champions League finals, having scored in two for Barcelona. It would be a supreme irony if Eto’o was the player who knocked the Catalan club out of the tournament. You get the impression that Eto’o was not too happy to leave the Camp Nou so will be fired up to fire Inter Milan into the Madrid final.

Ibrahimovic Needs to Shine

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be equally motivated to get to the final with his club but it is about time he lives up to the expectations that have been placed upon him. There is no doubt that the Swedish striker is a hugely talented forward with skill to spare but on the big occasions, he has often been found lacking.

The player grabbed a vital goal in the first El Classico of the season but he was not amongst the goals in the Spanish champions recent win at the Bernabeu. If Ibrahimovic can be instrumental in Barcelona winning at the Bernabeu stadium later on in May, he will finally have lived up to his big name billing.

Things are going well for Barcelona at the moment. They have opened up a lead at the top of the Spanish league and a lot of that is down to the skill and talent of Lionel Messi. In a team full of stars and great players, the Argentinean has managed to stand head and shoulders above the rest. No mean feat for a player that is hardly the tallest in the world!

The role he has played in getting Barcelona to the top of the league has been massive but not as much as his role in destroying Arsenal in the Camp Nou recently. After a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium in London, the Spanish club started favourites but the Camp Nou was rocked when Niklas Bendtner opened the scoring, which was definitely not in the script.

Messi Magic

However, before half-time Lionel Messi had things back to normal as he tore through the Arsenal backline and ensured that another English team was going out. The English sides have been fairly dominant in the Champions League later stages but the semi-final is now bare of all English club sides.

The English media likes to think that their domestic league is the best in the world but Arsenal had no answer to the class and talent of Lionel Messi. The English have been further angered by the fact that Messi has announced he has no interest in coming to play in England. He is playing for one of the biggest clubs in Europe in one of the biggest leagues; Messi has no need to look elsewhere. The huge pay packet he receives may also be a reason why the Argentinean has no need to move to England.

So, with the English disposed of, can Barcelona put out the pride of Italy?

Although Samuel Eto’o will get the press attention going into the game, Wesley Sneijder is likely to be the main threat to Barcelona. The ex Real Madrid will be another one who be hugely determined to get to the final which is being held at the Santiago Bernabeu and if there is any hope of the Champions League holders being knocked out, it may very well come from the Dutch internationalist.

Whether it be from a long range effort, a clinical set-piece or an assist to allow one of Inter’s forwards to score, much of the good work that Inter Milan have achieved has been through Sneijder’s prompting.

Mourinho Knows What It Takes

Jose Mourinho is seen as being a tactically aware coach but even he knows the value and benefit of world class players and he is able to get the very best from Sneijder. Even at his time at Chelsea, much of the good work in the early days came from the wing play of Robben and Duff.

When these two eventually succumbed to injuries, Chelsea’s attacking skill and prowess was blunted, taking the edge off their play. In the end, Chelsea were regarded as being a dull and mechanical outfit under Mourinho but that is not a true reflection of the man or his team.

A Throw Back to Old Style Football

Yes, Inter’s best hope of defeating Barcelona is by snuffing them out and being hard to beat but you can expect some attacking prowess from the Italian club. Barcelona have weaknesses at the back and Mourinho will be very aware of this.

One of the best things about Mourinho is not just the fact that he knows his own players strengths but he is aware of the weaknesses of the opposition. Barcelona have full backs that like to attack so do not be surprised if Mourinho sends his team out to counter attack into the corners to exploit the gaps left by Barcelona’s overlapping defenders.

The football world will be watching when these two clash as it threatens to hark back to the nostalgic days of football. The Italian side will come to the games with a defensive action in mind, hoping to stop the rampaging flowing football of the Spanish. Barcelona start favourites but there is no doubt that Inter Milan have it in them to knock the Champions League holders out.

by Andrew Reilly

for The Silver Circle at www.footballtip.co.uk

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