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Less than 24 hours before the biggest club level match of the season, and just so you know who to watch and keep a close eye on tommorow, we’re here to serve as a reminding friend.

Both Dutch, both were released (for mere pennies – Robben was sold to Bayern for 25 million Euro’s, Sneijder was sold for 15 to Inter) from Real Madrid after their super spending spree which landed them – No titles. Both were the best players for their respectable clubs this season.

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Robben had the best season of his career, scoring 16 league goals and four in the Champions League, including two that put Bayern in the next stage.

Sneijder? His excellent play, leadership, passing and scoring (3 champions league goals), are the main reason, not Maicon or Diego Milito, that Inter finally had a successful European campaign.

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The winner of the final tomorrow will be decided by whoever wins this match-up. My guess? Although Sneijder is one of my favorite players, I have to go with Robben and Bayern. He’ll find a way, again, to win it for Bayern.

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Getting ready for the champions league final – Bayern won their 22nd league title in Germany, beating out perennial losers Schalke by 5 points. Two weeks from today the German giants will meet Inter Milan in Madrid, and for those who like to remember the good ol’ days or just watch some old soccer vids, this is for you.

First up is Bayern’s first European Cup and their second continental honor (won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1967). Atletico Madrid (somehow symbolic) were the rivals on May 1974. The first match (Brussels) ended in a 1-1 draw, which meant, back then, a replay match two days later.

The result? Bayern won 4-0, with Uli Hoeness and Gerd Muller both grabbing a brace for the Bavarians who would go on to win the Champions League/European Champions Cup three more times.

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Jose Mourinho brought the best out of Inter’s players, as his boys played an almost perfect tactical and defensive scheme, frustrating the (usually) mighty and almost unbeatable Barcelona, beating the European champions 3-1 in the first leg of the champions league semi final, a week before they head for the second leg in the Nou Camp.

Wesley Sneijder and Maicon stood out, orchestrating the disciplined nerazzuri, keeping the pitch small and pressed for the Barca players, especially Messi and Xavi, who were hardly able to find freedom to roam and dazzle with their skills (Messi) and precision passing (Xavi). Pedro did put Barca ahead after 19 minutes as it seemed too many players didn’t feel like chasing Maxwell who set up Pedro’s goal, but it was Inter’s game from that moment. Sneijder and Maicon pushed Inter forward, Eto’o and Milito drew Puyol away from the center, creating havoc and confusion in Barca’s back. Sneijder was first to score, sending the game at a draw at halftime. Barcelona didn’t really show up for the first 20 minutes of the second half, which was enough for the Inter blitz (Maicon, Milito) to make it 3-1, a lead they held onto till the end, with Julio Cesar (number of saves) and Lucio (amazing save from the line off Pique’s effort) the big heroes in the end.

What’s next? Has Guardiola been outwitted by Mourinho, or does he have the answers for the second leg? It’s a comfortable lead, but on the other hand, Barcelona at home are a frightening beast. Pep has a week to find new ways to free up Messi and Xavi, or maybe it was just a bad day for Barca, who besides Pedro didn’t have anyone playing up to his usual high standards.

Pedro, 19th minute

Wesley Sneijder, 30th minute

Maicon, 48th minute

Diego Milito, 61st minute

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With Barcelona meeting Inter for the third time this season, we take a short look at what went down in the group stage and some notes on how things will turn out on Tuesday at the San Siro, the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Semi Final.

Inter – Barcelona, 0-0, September 16, 2009

Barcelona – Inter, 2-0, November 24, 2009

Goals: Gerard Pique, Pedro

In both matches, including the 0-0 draw at the San Siro, Barcelona dominated the match from start to finish. Mourinho played very cautiosly in both matches. He decided he’ll try and pinch a goal if possible. If not, a draw with the best team in the world is fine by him.

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Inter was still in transition earlier this season, with the new arrivals of Eto’o, Milito and Sneijder still sinking in. They have looked much better in the Champions league since the knockout stage began, impressively defeating Chelsea with Eto’o proving his worth.

So what now? Inter have lost their first place in Italy and for the first time in what seems to be an eternity, might not win the title. Barcelona threw away the momentum and lead they earned in their Superclasico victory over Real by drawing 0-0 with their city rivals Espanyol, finishing the match with 10 men after Dani Alves got sent off. Who’s the hotter team coming in?

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Inter have only one defeat this season in the Champions League, the 2-0 loss to Barca in November. They are a very strong home side, but the knockout stages have also proven their worth away from Milano, beating CSKA and Chelsea in the second legs, coming as the visitors. They are a very strong and organized at the the back, and although Barcelona are efficient “bunker busters”, the third time around might finally go the nerazzurri’s way. Lets not forget Inter are coming in boosted by their 2-0 win over Juventus, including Maicon’s wonder goal.

Barcelona? Iniesta and Abidal won’t be playing, but Barca are a thinking and evolving team, all the time. Their coach is a thinker and he always tries to upgrade his team by shifting the tactics and positions. No matter where they come to, this Barcelona side is always favored and expected to win, except when arriving at Madrid to play Real. You remember how that went the last two visits, right? Messi, despite not scoring in Barca’s last two matches, is the best player on the planet right now (these things change so quickly) and he has Xavi behind him to set him up. Pedro, who has just exploded out of nowhere this season, could be the X-factor for Barcelona as all the key individuals will be heavily guarded and watched. You can’t stop everyone, and Pedro’s fantastic form of late could be the key in making their second consecutive Champions League final.

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A frightening thought for Inter, maybe more towards next week – Messi wasn’t even playing when Barcelona beat them 5 months ago. Will Mourniho prove again that he’s the “special one”? A win tomorrow is a must. I can’t see Barcelona losing at the Nou Camp like last week. This isn’t an arrogant team and coach like Chelsea and Ancelotti are. Despite all the success in the last year and a half, Guardiola seems to be keeping his player on their toes and hungry for more. It’ll be interesting to see if Inter will succeed were Real failed just over a week ago.

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After the hat-trick in the weekend victory over Valencia, Lionel Messi scored “only” two in Barcelona’s 4-0 victory over Stuttgart, sending the European champions into the UEFA champions League quarter finals with a 5-1 aggregate win over the pretty helpless Germans, who seemed doomed from the start, not really posing any threat to the rampant Los Cules, led by Messi who did whatever he pleased most of the time and a fantastic Yaya Toure in the middle, taking the responsibilities of the injured Xavi in impressive fashion.

Lionel Messi, 13th minute

Pedro, 22nd minute

Lionel Messi, 60th minute

Bojan Krkic, 89th minute

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Well I guess one quarter of a billion Euros can’t buy you Champions League success. Maybe in the La Liga. Real Madrid, riding high on their 3-2 win over Sevilla in the weekend, Real opened strong with a quick Cristiano Ronaldo goal, looking likely to crush the French visitors. Nope. Too many first half misses and a very weak second half, with Lyon growing more and more confident as the minutes went by, Miralem Pjanic scored the goal that everybody felt was coming, sending Pellegrini and his “Galacticos” home, for the sixth straight season, in the second round of the Champions League.

Cristiano Ronaldo, 6th minute

Miralem Pjanic, 75th minute

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David Beckham did make a return to the theater of dreams where spent the first half plus of his career, but the big story was Wayne Rooney with another brace and Manchester United who swept aside an amateurish AC Milan side, humiliating themselves and Italian soccer in general with an awful performance while United dealt with the 2007 Champions League winners without any problems.

Wayne Rooney, 13th minute

Wayne Rooney, 46th minute

Ji-Sung Park, 59th minute

Darren Fletcher, 87th minute

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First of all, the sometimes brilliant, sometimes annoying and hated Dutch winger that is Arjen Robben, the super-striked Bayern Munich into the quarter finals with his amazing shot with his left from way out, giving Bayern the second away goal it needed, making Fiorentina very sad winners with a 3-2 victory at home, not enough to improve their rather disappointing season.

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Miles away in jolly London, Arsenal thrashed Porto 5-0, with Samir Nasri scoring a splendid third, toying with Porto’s defense with a breathtaking dribble and cold as ice finishing.

Number 10 – Roy Makaay – 29 Goals

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Although no longer in the Champions League ranks since his departure from Germany to slumping Feyenoord, Makaay had some impressive seasons for Bayern Munich and Deportivo La Coruna. He had an impressive performance while playing for Deportivo in 2002-2003, scoring a hat-trick in Munich against Bayern in the Spaniard 3-2 win. A season later, he was a Bayern player, where he earned the nickname Das Phantom for his ability to score goals out of nowhere. In four seasons with Bayern he scored 17 Champions League goals, including the quickest goal in the competition’s history, scoring after 10.2 seconds against Real Madrid on March 2007. At 34, Makaay is still a threat, scoring 31 goals in two and some seasons in the Dutch league.

Number 9 – David Trezeguet – 29 Goals

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The lethal Frenchman has been one of the best strikers in Europe this decade, with 159 league goals playing for Monaco and Juventus. He doesn’t do much, he doesn’t move around too much, especially in recent years, but he scores goals. He still doesn’t have a Champions League title with Juve, playing in their 2003 final loss against AC Milan, missing one of the penalties in the shoot out. He owns the record of the fastest goal in terms of velocity ever scored in the Champions League, back in 1997 against Manchester United, playing for Monaco (157.33). Despite constant off seasons rumors that he’ll be leaving the Bianconeri, Trezeguet keeps racking up the goals for Juve, with 7 league goals in 12 matches this season.

Number 8 – Didier Drogba – 31 Goals

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He certainly isn’t the most popular player in the world among players, fans and referees, but Drogba, if you look past the dirty elbows and antics and diving and complaining, is a fantastic player and scorer, with 31 goals in 58 champions league matches. Despite having quite a few memorable goals and reaching the finals of the competition with Chelsea in 2008, Drogba’s most memorable moment in the competition is probably his rant against Tom Henning Ovrebo after Chelsea’s controversial exit against Barcelona last season in the Champions League semi final.

Number 7 – Fernando Morientes – 33 Goals

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Morientes hasn’t scored a Champions League goal in more than 2 years since his tenure with Valencia. He has played with Marseille in the competition this season, but he didn’t score. It’s not been going too well for him in Ligue 1 as well, scoring only 1 goal so far. Morientes best days came quite a long time ago, while he was with Real Madrid and won three champions league titles, scoring in their 2000 3-0 victory over Valencia. Personally, his best season in the UCL came in 2003-2004 with Monaco, scoring 9 goals, leading the scorers in the contest that season, leading the French side to the final, before losing to Porto 3-0.

Number 6 – Alessandro Del Piero

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Is this the year that Del Piero finally get old? It’s hard to say, as he’s been put down and buried by the media and fans so many times only to rise and prove everyone wrong time and time again, including two fantastic seasons since returning from the depths in Serie B, highlighted by his wonderful brace against Real Madrid last season at the Bernabeu which earned him a rare home crowd applause. Del Piero has been to the Champions League final four times, but he has only one winners medal, on his first try, in 1996. During Juve’s three consecutive finals appearance run in the mid 90’s Del Piero scored 23 goals in 30 matches. El Principe is currently sidelined by injury, not scoring one goal in the UCL this season, as Juve failed to qualify to the next round.

Number 5 – Filippo Inzaghi – 44 Goals

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The 36 year old Italian is also showing signs of slowing down this season with only one league goal in 12 matches this season. In the Champions League he has two goals, both in the same match, from Milan’s dramatic win in Marseille, 2-1. He’s had bad seasons before, but the man who seems to be constantly offside has made remarkable comeback seasons before, so don’t count him out. He is, after all, he is the all-time leading scorer in European competitions (68 goals).

Number 4 – Andriy Shevchenko – 48 Goals

A rare smile for Sheva during his Chelsea days

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It’s easy to forget the aging striker playing for Dynamo Kyiv was maybe the best in the world during the earlier parts of the 2000’s. It’s too bad the second part of the decade, which included two abysmal seasons with Chelsea and a failed return to Milan last year. Shevchenko made himself known after scoring a hat trick during Dynamo’s 4-0 win over Barcelona in Spain, later moving on to Milan , winning the Champions League trophy in 2003, scoring the final penalty in the shootout against Juventus. He also missed a penalty in the final two years later against Liverpool. He managed to score one goal in six group matches this season for Dynamo in the UCL, failing to qualify for the next round or the UEFA cup, finishing fourth.

Number 3 – Thierry Henry – 50 Goals

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I always wonder about Henry. Maybe winning the champions league with Arsenal in 2006 would have cemented him as the best player of the 00’s. Maybe not. Henry got his last season, but he wasn’t the same player he was with Arsenal, who pretty much carried Wenger’s team on his back to the 2006 final and two league titles in 2002 and 2004 (going undefeated that season). He wasn’t alone, but he was by far the best player in England during those years. This season so far hasn’t been a memorable one for Henry, highlighted by his controversial goal against Ireland in the World Cup qualifying playoff, which brought on a global media assault and demands for FIFA to introduce replays into the game.

Number 2 – Ruud van Nistelrooy – 60 Goals

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Another player who’s not having a great time this year. Well, it’s been actually two years for Ruud, who is only second on this list but his 60 goals in 73 UCL matches is the best goal ratio on this list. He’s been the top Champions League scorer three times and he has been the top scorer in three different domestic leagues in Europe. Still, it seems that his days in Madrid are coming to an end, playing only 2 games in all competitions for Real.

Number 1 – Raul – 66 Goals

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So many records, so many goals. He’s been playing in the UEFA champions league since 1996, scoring 66 goals in 126 matches, including 2 this season. He is Real’s all-time leading goalscorer (226 league goals, 321 in all competitions) and leads the team in appearances. He leads the national team with 44 goals despite not playing since the Euro 2008 qualifiers. He’s won the Champions League three times (1998, 2000, 2002) scoring in the final in both 2000 and 2002. Greatest Real Madrid player ever? Best Spanish player ever? Time will tell, but he’s one of the few living legends actually still playing.

Group E

Liverpool – Fiorentina : 1 – 2

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Even in a garbage time game, Liverpool couldn’t buy a win against a decent rival. Yossi Benayoun put the Reds in front, but Jorgensen (63) and Gilardino (injury time) helped Fiorentina keep their first place in the group and leave Liverpool without a win over a decent rival in Europe this season and off to their Europa League adventures.

Lyon – Debrecen : 4 – 0

Debrecen finished their Champions League campaign without any points, like M.Haifa of Israel, but with goals. Not in this one though, as Lyon thrashed the Hungarians with goals from Gomis, Bastos, Pjanic and Cissokho, as they move on to the next stage from the second place.

Group F

Dynamo Kiev – Barcelona : 1 – 2

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In the tightest (surprisingly) group before tonight, the two favorites, despite having their troubles along the way, made it to the next round. Barcelona bounced back from an early Milevskyi goal (not staying with Kiev for long) with goals from Xavi and a beautiful Messi free kick, as the reigning European champions qualified from the top spot.

Inter – Rubin Kazan : 2 – 0

Inter got their spot in the next round with an impressive display against the Russian champions, but they also got goals from two players who have really been off lately – Eto’o who scored the first and Balotelli who fired in a fantastic free kick goal. Mourinho, after a fiery press conference yesterday, has won a few more days of silence while Kazan, despite the loss, continue to the Europa League through their third place finish.

Group G

Sevilla – Rangers : 1 – 0

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Rangers finished a poor European campaign (only 2 points) with another loss and no goals, as an early Kanoute penalty was enough for Sevilla to secure a first place finish in this very easy (apparently) group.

Stuttgart – Unirea : 3-1

Three goals in the first eleven minutes (Marica, Trasch, Pogrebnyak) were enough for the Germans to forget about their Bundesliga woes and clinch the second qualifying spot for the next round while the sympathetic Romanians settle for a Europa League spot for the rest of their 2009-2010 continental campaign.

Group H

Olympiakos – Arsenal : 1 – 0

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The gunners, with their first place already clinched, came to Greece with a very young and mostly inexperienced side. The Greek champions needed a point to secure a spot in the next stage but got three, as Leonardo scored the only goal, handing Arsenal their first loss this season in the Champions League.

Standard Liege – AZ Alkmaar : 1 – 1

The most dramatic game in a mostly dull Champions League evening, Sinan Bolat, Standard’s goalkeeper, scored the equalizer in injury time, giving Liege the Europa League spot and leaving the Dutch champions (probably exiting champions from the looks of things in the Netherlands) dead last in the group, with no wins in the group stage.