This week brings us the penultimate legs of the UEFA Champions League semi finals, both compelling fixtures that tell vastly different stories.
On one side of the bracket, there's the battle of the Spanish giants. The other side gives us a bit of a David vs. Goliath matchup between a team that is almost always still around at this stage in the competition against a somewhat surprising German side that has played some fantastic football recently.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Schalke 04 v. Manchester United
Schalke is a team that is seemingly thriving on this competition. Their league performance has been fairly crap throughout the season (they sit in 10th - well back of the big boys in the Bundesliga), and yet they've looked thoroughly deserving of reaching the final four of the best club tournament on Earth. Getting the first leg at home should makes thing a bit easier on the rank underdogs of this semi-final round.
As for their opponents, Manchester United is back to being Manchester United. The Red Devils are cruising along in the Premier League, well on the way to a 19th title. Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez has broken out as a genuine star, while incumbent superstar Wayne Rooney has been rounding back into form in recent weeks.
One has to think that Man United's experience in this competition, as well as their stature as a team versus their opponents, should give them a decided edge in the semi-final round against Schalke. But then, the same could have been said for all of Schalke's previous foes.
Real Madrid v. Barcelona (El Clasico)
These two teams must be starting to get sick of one another, as they've already played each other twice over the past couple of weeks. Barcelona in particular must be growing wary of a Real Madrid side that has made them look far more human of late, going against the grain of a season in which the Blaugrana have been damned near invincible.
Kicking things off in the Bernabéu gives the advantage squarely to Madrid, as they will look to extend the momentum of last week's Copa del Rey win into the Champions League. Barça will have to try to quickly regain their form of a month ago to win this series, although a close result in the first leg would be an okay result going back to Camp Nou next week.