Europe’s premier club competition is starting to get down to the nitty gritty this week and the cream has risen to the top.
You’ll always get the arguments from lovers of the English game that Man United should be there, Man City should be there, Chelsea should be there, Arsenal should be there etc etc.
And while I still rate the English Premier League as the best league in the world on the whole on a number of fronts, and think it’s a disappointment that no English club made the last eight for the first time in 17 years, I don’t think many people could argue that this year’s semi-finalists aren’t deserving of their places in the last four.
For the armchair purist, this year’s Champions League has been one of the better ones in recent memory and has had it all from Celtic’s heroics against Barcelona right through to that incredibly dramatic quarter-final between Dortmund and Malaga.
So it can only be good for the tournament that the four most entertaining sides so far again, purely in my view are left to battle it out for the silverware.
Barcelona will always be there or thereabouts and showed an impressive amount of character character I personally didn’t think they had this season by not only coming from behind against AC Milan in the last 16 but also by doing likewise over two legs against Paris St Germain in their quarter-final.
Doubters seemed to come out of the woodwork a few weeks ago when they were 2-0 down to Milan after the first leg, but Messi and co can be scintillating viewing at times and it will be interesting to see how they handle the pressure of being favourites again this time around.
Their Spanish rivals Real Madrid seemed to have sacrificed their La Liga campaign this year to concentrate on the Champions League, and who would bet against Jose Mourinho signing off his time at the Santiago Bernebeu with the prize every club wants to get their hands on at Wembley?
They have proved they have got the talent to do it, that’s not in question, and I think the way they handled Galatasaray’s fightback in the quarter-final indicates they might also have the temperament this time around.
Bayern Munich were German efficiency personified as they swept aside Juventus in the last round and they have been quietly going about their business as if they wanted to uphold that stereotype all the way to the final.
Arsenal were maybe unlucky not to have turned things right around in their last 16 clash, but you can be sure the manner of Bayern’s loss to Chelsea in last year’s final will have them doubly determined to claim the trophy this year.
And the quartet competing for Champions League glory are completed by Borussia Dortmund, who will go in as outsiders but shouldn’t be under-estimated.
Most punters probably didn’t give them a chance when they were drawn in Group D alongside Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax, but the fact they won that group impressively suggests they have the consistency required as well as the character they showed in their quarter-final when they scored two stoppage time goals to overhaul Malaga’s brave challenge.
My money’s on Dortmund actually, and it has been since their opening performances against Ajax and Man City. They impressed then, they’ve impressed me since, and maybe it’s just the old romantic in me that would love to see the underdogs win the whole shebang. I don’t know.
But for me, the fact we’ve got two Spain v Germany encounters to look forward to ensures the scene is set for two cracking semi-finals, with Barca v Bayern and Madrid v Dortmund at this stage perhaps better than the two countries’ flag bearers fighting it out against one another at the semi-final stage.
Personally, I hope that trend continues through to the final at Wembley and I’d far rather see two teams representing two countries than a wholly German invasion or a Spanish conquest.
Whatever happens though, armchair viewers up and down the country will be hoping all three games the two semi-finals and the final live up to their billing.
And then we can all look forward to a rest.
Or at least until the qualifiers start again in early July…