Barcelona and Chelsea Set for High-Stakes Champions League Semifinal Showdown

On Tuesday night, beneath the heaving ranks of 90,000 fans in the sunken football church of Camp Nou and before a global television audience in the hundreds of millions, Barcelona and Chelsea will settle their Champions League semifinal.

The stakes for both teams could hardly be higher.

Pep Guardiola's revered Barcelona have all but conceded the Spanish league title to their great rivals Real Madrid, who came to Camp Nou and won 2-1 on Saturday night—inflicting their first El Clasico defeat on Barca in eight matches and their first away win in the fixture for four years.

Madrid's coup at Camp Nou followed Barca's 1-0 loss to Chelsea in their semifinal first leg in London last Wednesday, and means the Blaugrana have lost two matches in a row for the first time since May 2009.

Two years ago those blips (against Mallorca and Osasuna) were wholly insignificant, coming at the tail end of a La Liga campaign that saw them better Madrid by nine points and in a season that culminated in Champions League triumph over Manchester United in a one-sided final.

But their recent losses were anything but meaningless. They came in Barca's two most important matches of the season so far and have enormous implications for the fate of Guardiola's pass masters this season.

The loss against Madrid cost them the Spanish title. The loss against Chelsea could yet cost them a place in the Champions League final and the chance to become the first back-to-back winners since the competition was rebranded for the 1992-93 season.

If that happens, Barca—the undisputed best team of the generation and with a claim to rule many others—would finish the 2011-12 season with just the Copa del Rey to show for it (plus their 2011 UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and Supercopa Espana titles, of course).

It would represent Guardiola's least impressive season since he took over in 2008. And rightly or wrongly, talk would turn to what could be the beginning of the end for the glittering dynasty he's ruled over in Catalonia.

With Guardiola yet to sign a new contract at the club, it may yet prove the tipping point in his decision not to.

No wonder doubts are flooding the media and beginning to creep into his thinking. In Saturday's Clasico, Guardiola left out Cesc Fabregas and put his faith in 20-year-old Cristian Tello. In his postmatch press conference, the Barcelona coach had his tactics questioned and came close to admitting he got it wrong.

"

If I had left other players out you would probably be asking me now why I did not include them.

Maybe I did get it wrong. Maybe with Cesc or other players it would have gone better, who knows?

"

Meanwhile, Barca once again wasted a sackful of chances. Against Chelsea they had 24 attempts with no success. Against Real it was one goal from 14.

Bad luck or profligacy, or both, it's a worrying trend that will give Chelsea fans hope they can hold onto their 1-0 lead on Tuesday night. And with the world's media shining its light on a potential flaw in their mastery, Guardiola and his team will feel the weight of expectancy to prove them wrong.

The pressure is very much on Barca to deliver. If they do, a potential final against Madrid awaits (Bayern Munich permitting) and with it a glorious chance to emphatically silence their doubters.

If they don't, talk of Barca's demise will be greatly exaggerated.

Talk of Chelsea's demise has been a running theme for at least the last couple of seasons.

The generation that came to the fore under Jose Mourinho, winning back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006 and delivering Chelsea a spot at European football's top table, are fast running out of time to make the Champions League dream a reality.

John Terry and Ashley Cole are both 31. Frank Lampard is 33. Didier Drogba is 34.

It's the spine of Mourinho's old team that will be under the spotlight at Camp Nou. Terry, Lampard and Drogba were immense in the first leg at Stamford Bridge. They'll need to be even better in Barcelona to carry the Blues forward to Munich in May.

All three were in Avram Grant's team beaten on penalties by Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League final, too. Cole, Petr Cech, Florent Malouda and Michael Essien were alongside them in Moscow.

The memory of that heartbreak surely looms large in their motivation. For Terry in particular, who missed from 12 yards with the Champions League prize his for the taking, thoughts of lifting the trophy offer perhaps his only route to redemption.

Chelsea's captain has dominated headlines for all the wrong reasons this season. But he could yet end the season having led the team to FA Cup and Champions League glory, and with a place in England's squad for Euro 2012.

Lampard is another with a point to prove. Deemed surplus to requirements by Andre Villas-Boas, the midfielder has been reinvigorated under Chelsea interim manager Roberto Di Matteo and could find no better stage than Camp Nou to shoot down his many critics.

The same rings true for Drogba, for whom this season could well prove a swan song to his time in southwest London.

Then there's the next generation at Chelsea looking to stake their club. The likes of Juan Mata, Gary Cahill, Daniel Sturridge and Ramires—not to forget Fernando Torres, the much-maligned striker whom they paid £50 million for and whose redemption could come no sweeter than a goal against Barcelona when you consider his Atletico Madrid roots.

As for Di Matteo, what better argument for his being offered a long-term deal than victory over the world's best team, over two legs, and a place in the Champions League final as reward?

It's hard to imagine a team with more to prove than Chelsea right now, which is exactly what Barca have to fear when the take the field on Tuesday night.

Chelsea, of course, know all too well what to be afraid of.

Barcelona are a wounded animal with the teeth as sharp as any we've seen. Watching whether they can dig them in at Camp Nou, against a dogged opponent ready to fight to the death, could prove one the most fascinating encounters we've seen in recent years.