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Spanish titans kept apart in Champions League semi-final draw

Barcelona will take on Bayern Munich in the last four of the Uefa Champions League and Real Madrid will pit their wits against Juventus.

Pep Guardiola will lead Bayern Munich against his old club Barcelona while Carlo Ancelotti will continue the defence of Real Madrid's crown against one of his former employers at Juventus.
Pep Guardiola will lead Bayern Munich against his old club Barcelona while Carlo Ancelotti will continue the defence of Real Madrid's crown against one of his former employers at Juventus. Reuters
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There's the chance of an all-Spanish final in this season's Uefa Champions League.

Holders Real Madrid avoided their La Liga rivals Barcelona in the semi-final draw made on Friday in the Swiss city of Nyon.

Of course Juventus and Bayern Munich will be doing their utmost to spoil such a fiesta at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on 6 June.

Juventus are in their first semi-final since 2003. That year they progressed to the final and lost to AC Milan on penalties following a dour 0-0 draw.

Juve, like the other semi-final teams, are vying for multiple honours this term. The Turin giants are 15 points clear in Serie A with seven games remaining and they are also into the final of the Coppa Italia.

Real Madrid are still in with a shout of the Spanish championship. They are two points behind pacesetters Barcelona with six games still to play. Barcelona are pushing for three trophies, and they're already into the final of the Copa del Rey.

Real are not only looking to claim their 11th European title but also to become the first side to retain the Champions League trophy since the competition changed format from the European Cup in 1992.

Juventus will go into the tie as underdogs even though Massimo Allegri's side has dominated Serie A this season. The 47-year-old Italian took over at the start of the season and has steered the side bequeathed to him by Antonio Conte to the verge of a fourth consecutive Italian championship.

Massimo Allegri has led Juventus to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2003
Massimo Allegri has led Juventus to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2003 Reuters/Eric Gaillard

Allegri has eclipsed his predecessor, however, by guiding the team to the last four.

"When he arrived it was difficult for Allegri to do something good because Conte was a hero for the fans," said Gazetto dello Sport football writer Alessandra Bocci.

Conte's place in Juve mythology was woven following the side's demotion to Serie B for its part in a match-fixing scandal. From that nadir, the former Juve midfielder orchestrated a return to the top of Serie A. The 45-year-old left to lead the Italian national team with his status unimpeachable as a domestic coach.

But up against other European tacticians in the Champions League, he was often found wanting. Juve's best performance in the Champions League during his reign was a quarter-final berth in 2013. "It was very difficult to accept another coach such as Allegri," Bocci added. "Especially a coach who managed AC Milan who were big rivals for the title when Conte won it for the first time in 2012. The situation was very difficult for Allegri but I think he's been good.

"He's waited for the right moment to give something new to the club and to the team."

The glamour and spotlight of the latter stages of the Champions League will do very nicely thank you for Juve's coffers and for the prestige of the players.

Juve have a world class goalkeeper in Gigi Buffon and the dynamic midfield energy of the France international Paul Pogba. The Argentine Carlos Tevez has been reliably rumbustious in attack. Juve are essentially an effective collection of very good operators.

It is a sharp contrast to Madrid who are a carefully constructed constellation. In goal there's Iker Casillas returning to something approaching his former wondrousness after a ropey 18 months for club and country. Luka Modric remains the silky midfield mastermind and around him there's the goal machine of Cristiano Ronaldo. He's never anything less than stellar and the Portuguese world player of the year has been joined by Welshman Gareth Bale and the Colombian striker James Rodriguez. All match winners in a blink of an eye.

Real Madrid brought Bayern Munich's reign as champions to an end in the semi-finals last year.

The Germans won the title in 2013 at Wembley at the expense of Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund. The Uefa Champions League was part of a haul that season which included the German Cup and the Bundesliga. Manager Jupp Heynckes resigned at the end of the season to make way for Pep Guardiola who continued the winning ways by pocketing the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

Guardiola led Bayern to the 2014 Bundesliga title - their 24th and also their 17th German Cup.

Bundesliga title 25 could be clinched this weekend if the Bavarians beat Hertha Berlin on Saturday evening and Wolfsburg fail to claim all three points at Borussia Munchengladbach on Sunday afternoon.

Whether they win an 18th German Cup will be put to the test on 28 April when they play Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final.

A treble for Guardiola at the end of his second season at Bayern Munich would be impressive.

To achieve it, the 44-year-old will have to display superlative dispassion.

Barcelona stand in his path. The club's former midfielder has called the semi-final tie a return home. Hardly surprising really. Guardiola graced the Camp Now for more than a decade and then led the Catalans on a glory trail that makes trebles look decidedly mundane. For example in 2009 there was a harvest of La Liga, Copa del Rey, Uefa Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, Uefa Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

In four golden years, a Barcelona record of 14 trophies were garnered - not forgetting the 2011 Champions League triumph.

Since heading down to Bayern, Guardiola has won the European Super Cup, the Club World Cup and the German title.

Luis Enrique, the Barcelona coach, told the Champions League website: "It will be a special game because of Pep, for me and for the players. It will be a great date for all Barca fans. We will go with the objective of winning both at home and away from home. The process is the same."

Bayern Munich ambassador Paul Breitner acknowledged that both sides were approaching 180 very hard minutes.

"It will be very tough to reach the final," said the 63-year-old former Germany international. "Bayern will have to be at full strength in both matches to beat Barcelona."

The first legs of the semi-finals take place on 5 and 6 May and the second legs will be a week later.

Rewind a few years back to the days of Xavi in his pomp with Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi shuttling around him, it would have been a clairvoyant extraordinaire to have seen that the coach aiming to block a Barcelona treble would be a soul from Santpedor in the Catalan heartland, none other than Josep Guardiola i Sala.

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