FCBARCELONA.CAT

09.04.2008 23:13

Ten semi-finals in 18 seasons

Berta Brau

FC Barcelona can begin to prepare for their tenth appearance in the semi finals of the European Cup after beating Schalke 04 on Wednesday evening in order to set up a tie with Manchester United.

The two-legged victory against the German outfit at the quarter final stage means that the club have reached a milestone of ten appearances in the last four in their 18 seasons in the competition. In 1992, there were now semi finals as a mini group stage was played out.

The road to the semi-final

To reach the semi finals, Barça have had to play ten matches and five different teams. This term, the Blaugrana have come up against Olympique Lyonnais, Rangers and VfB Stuttgart in the group stage, before taking on Celtic and then Schalke. The feat is even more impressive as Barça have not lost any of their ten matches, recording eight wins and two drawss, and are the only unbeaten side along with Manchester United.

Manchester United next

Inredibly, it is the Red Devils that Barça will face next as the Premier League side secured their passage into the semi finals with a 1-0 win against AS Roma on Wednesday, to add to the 2-0 they recorded in Italy last week. Caros Tévez scored the only goal of the evening to ease Sir Alex Ferguson's side towards a date with Barcelona.

The European Cup

The first season that saw Barcelona reach the semi finals of the competition was 1959-60, the first time that the competition was called the European Cup, but they were beaten by Real Madrid having eliminated Wolves in the quarter finals. The following year, 1960-61, Barça reached the last four again and won this time against Hamburg before losing in the final against Benfica in the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne, Switzerland. In 1974-75 and 1985-86, Barcelona also reached the semi finals having beaten Atvidaberg and Juventus respectively.

Champions League

Since the competition became the Champions League, Barça have reached the semi final on six occasions. In 1991-92, Barça reached the final after winning the mini-league as no knockout ties were played. 1993-94 saw the Blaugrana defeat Porto in a one-off match before going to Greece where they lost in the final to AC Milan.

Barça won the second leg of the quarter final against Chelsea in 1999-2000 to set up a semi final appearance against Valencia, but Los Ché were victorious over the two games. In 2001-02, Real Madrid beat the Blaugrana and then in 2005-06 Barcelona returned to winning ways at the semi final stage as they knocked out AC Milan to earn a place in the final in Paris against Arsenal.