Power games require powerful leaders

One match, or even two never define a season, let alone a trend although it is tempting to draw sweeping conclusions from the way the Champions League semi-finals have panned out. Two Spanish clubs in the Champions League final, and that from one city, Madrid, must surely mark a very dramatic shift from the German domination of the League. After all it was only last year we had an all German final. And Bayern Munich was seen as the team that defined everything that was strong and worth emulating in European football.

Such a conclusion is too early to draw. It is even more dangerous to write off Barcelona, the team that has defined European football for almost half a decade, winning the Champions League thrice since 2005-2006. Tiki-taka has been written off before and come back resoundingly. A year after the 2010 defeat to Jose Mourinho's Inter, Barcelona won the Champions League and then after Chelsea won at the Nou Camp in 2012 Spain won the European championship. However, what can be said with more certainty is that the Carlo Ancelotti has once again shown how he can work with the biggest egos in football and still come up trumps.