Barcelona are effectively done in La Liga, save for fighting for the 2nd automatic qualifier for next seasons Champions League.  They were eliminated by eventual Copa Del Rey champion Valencia and now face the current juggernauts of Europe, Manchester United.  This semifinal will likely make or break this season.  Heck, the season may already be broken but for me, a Champions League victory is glory enough.  However, Barcelona have stumbled for the past few weeks in falling out of La Liga and the Copa.  Take a look at their recent results since the 1st leg of the Copa Semis:

Valencia        1 - 1 (Copa)
@ Atlético M    2 - 4    
Celtic          1 - 0 (CL)
Villarreal     1 - 2
Almeria     2 - 2    
@Valencia     2 - 3 (Copa)
Valladolid     4 - 1
@Real Betis     2 - 3    
@Schalke 04     1 - 0 (CL)   
Getafe             0 - 0
Schalke 04      1 - 0 (CL)
@Recreativo     2 - 2    
Espanyol        0 - 0

So in their last 11 matches, Barcelona has 4 victories.  2 against Schalke 04, 1 against Celtic , and 1 against cellar dwellers Valladolid.  Beating 2 teams from the 2nd tier leagues is not all that impressive.  In that time span, Barca have been knocked out of the Copa del Rey and have earned 7pts out of a possible 21 in La Liga and have seen themselves dropping behind Villareal in the race to the 2nd automatic qualifier.  They must have more points than Villareal at the end of the season because if they are equal on points, Villareal will get the nod thanks to dominating Barca in 2 head to head matches.

But all of this can be set aside (or almost all of this) if Barcelona can take care of business in these next two legs.  The feat will be quite a task.  I understand that these are two juggernaut European powers, but a more astute observer will see that these two teams are playing on a different level than one another, Man U ready to clinch the EPL with Barca struggling to stay together.  A team that has seen their Ronnie elevate his game to another level (Man U) and the other that is watching their once talismanic striker exit stage left (Barca).  The fortunes of these teams are clearly diverging, but they have met at this spot and can put on quite the show for us fans.  Just look at this list of stars that will be on the field at the same time:

C. Ronaldo
Wayne Rooney
Carlos Tevez
Thierry Henry
Samuel Eto'o
Lionel Messi

....and I'm just scratching the surface obviously, but I'm definitely looking forward to an exciting match that I'm sure will include a lot of nail biting.  The onus is on Barca to perform as the home side.  I'm curious to see how Barca will react to a team that Barca will have difficulty in dominating possession against and more importantly how will they deal with Ronaldo's cutting runs.  Barca will also have to deal with a couple of towering players like Rio Ferdinand on set pieces, something that has been one of Barca's weakest links.

I'm hoping for the magic of 2005-2006. And Messi, I'm looking to you!