Barcelona vs Bayern

In a thrilling display of attacking menace brilliant Barcelona destroyed Bayern 4-0, all of the goals coming in the first half. Our back of Barca at a handicap of -1.5 goals was some of the easiest money we’ve ever made.

With Man Utd faltering and Chelsea’s surprising win over Liverpool, the Catalans have to be considered the hot favourites for the Champions League trophy.

The winners of the Liverpool-Chelsea clash await either Barcelona or Bayern Munich in the last four but there can surely only be one outcome and the La Liga side should build up enough of a lead at the Nou Camp to all but secure their place in the last four.

While Guardiola’s side have not quite hit the heights of their stunning play at the turn of the year in recent weeks they remain clear in Spain and must be fancied to go all the way in the Champions League too. An attacking trio of Henry, Eto’o and, of course, Lionel Messi is enough to test even the very best of defences but Bayern look highly suspect at the back to me and Barca should be backed giving up 1.50 goals on the Asian handicaps.

A general 1.40 shot to win the match ahead of the return in Munich, Barca ran amok against Lyon in the opening 45 minutes of their last 16 second leg fixture and I expect more of the same again in Northern Spain.

Bayern were humiliated 5-1 by Wolfsburg on the weekend, a result which saw them drop to fourth in the Bundesliga, and Jurgen Klinsmann could well employ damage limitation tactics in a hope simply to keep the tie alive.

While there is little doubt that the visitors possess goalscorers throughout I am not sure they will see enough of the ball anywhere across the pitch to feed the likes of Toni and Ribery for that duo to have any impact. And, of course, the aforementioned Catalan Holy Trinity can feed off an anticipated endless supply of chances from the likes of Xavi and Iniesta.

It will be fascinating to see how the more rugged styles of Liverpool and Chelsea measure up against beautiful Barca in the semi-finals and it would be a crying shame were we to be denied such a contest. Surely that won’t happen however, anything but a home win on Wednesday will be a major shock, and the hosts should be backed to advance in style.