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Players aiming to settle Guardiola-Mourinho dispute

There is no love lost between the two managers, who clashed in the pre-game press conferences © Getty Images

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We've reached the half-way point in the Clasico marathon, and the pressure is cranked up a notch as the two sides meet in the semi-finals of the Champions League with a Wembley date against Manchester United or Schalke at stake.

The Primera Division meeting at the Bernabeu was a mere sideshow with Barcelona already way out in front in the race for the title. And although Real Madrid may have won their first trophy under Jose Mourinho with an extra-time Copa del Rey win over Barca at Valencia's Estadio Mestalla, it is the Champions League which carries the most weight.

Mourinho has lifted Real out of their Champions League slump, which had seen them fail to advance beyond the first knockout round since 2004, and to the brink of a first final since they lifted the trophy for a record ninth time in 2002 - when a Zinedine Zidane goal secured a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Just how Mourinho will approach the game is open to question. After suffering an embarrassing 5-0 hammering at Camp Nou in November, the Portuguese opted to park the bus in the return game at the Bernabeu on April 16 and came away with a 1-1 draw. He will surely have to show more adventure to get past Barca in this two-legged tie.

In the two games played so far this month, Mourinho's tactics have led to just two goals being scored in regulation time and both of those have come from the penalty spot. A free-scoring spectacle it has not been.

But for all Mourinho's magic - he is looking to become the first coach to ever win the European Cup with three teams after FC Porto and Inter Milan - Real Madrid will remarkably go into the first leg as the slight underdogs, unthinkable on their own turf.

Barcelona's ability to score seemingly at will, having netted at least five goals in a game on ten occasions already this season, rightly makes them favourites to win the competition again after Pep Guardiola's success in 2009. The Copa del Rey triumph, coming almost three years since Real's last trophy, will at least give Mourinho's men the belief that they can go on and beat Barcelona.

Both sides rested their key players at the weekend but still enjoyed comfortable victories, with Real becoming the first away side to ever score six goals against Valencia at the Mestalla.

Real will be without Ricardo Carvalho after he picked up his third yellow card of the competition against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, while Sami Khedira is injured. Mourinho will be wary of failing to finish the game against Barca with ten men, with Real's Angel di Maria, Raul Albiol and Sergio Ramos having all seen red this term. Mourinho also had Thiago Motta sent off for Inter in their semi-final win last season.

Cristiano Ronaldo's goal settled the Copa del Rey final © Getty Images

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Bojan Krkic is missing for Barca, and fitness doubts remain over Carlos Puyol, who had been sidelined for months before returning to the team for the first match against Real ten days ago.

With left-backs Eric Abidal, Adriano and Maxwell definitely missing, amd Puyol and Gabriel Milito struggling with injuries, Guardiola could be forced to play Javier Mascherano in a defensive role. It is an area Mourinho could look to exploit.

Real Madrid one to watch - Marcelo: This left back, signed from Fluminense four years ago, was mostly used by former Real boss Manuel Pellegrini as a left winger but now finds himself in his more natural defensive role. A left back he may be, but that does not preclude him from marauding forward with pace and power. He made the shortlist for FIFA's World XI last November but did not make the final XI - despite no left back being voted into the team.

Barcelona one to watch - Pedro: Spain international Pedro may not get the plaudits reserved for the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi, but he plays a vital role for Barcelona. With 13 La Liga goals and seven assists from 23 starts he is both a scorer and a creator. He has also contributed three goals in the Champions League. Since being plucked from the island of Tenerife he has won a World Cup, a Champions League, a Spanish League, a Spanish Cup, a Spanish Super Cup, a European Super Cup and a Club World Cup.

Key Battle Lionel Messi v Cristiano Ronaldo: They may not be in face-to-face combat, but two of the best players in the world will take to the field at the Bernabeu on Wednesday. Messi, the current FIFA World Player of the Year, bagged his 50th goal of the season against Osasuna at the weekend, having already beaten his own record for goals in a season in Spain. While Ronaldo remains the poster boy for many it is Messi who has taken most of the silverware, and now it is the Real star, with 44 goals to his own name, who must be the difference again after heading home the winner in the Copa del Rey.

Trivia: Madrid have beaten Barca twice before in the semi-finals of this competition, and on both occasions - in 1960 and 2002 - went on to lift the trophy.

Stat: Barca have had the better of the recent meetings between the two Spanish superpowers. Until this month they had won five successive Clasicos - one short of equalling the record of consecutive wins.

Odds: Real Madrid 2.70, Barcelona 2.62, Draw 3.30. The 0-0 draw is priced at 10.00.

Prediction: With Real Madrid managing to hold their own against Barcelona in the first two of their four meetings, another draw could be on the cards.

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