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While Barça managed to hold possession for most of last night’s 90 minutes, they demonstrated once again the reason that their fans remain so frustrated. While keeping possession is important in a match, it isn’t as important as actually doing something with the ball, and despite attacking Manchester’s goal on numerous occassions, they seemed once again to lack the stamina to take it all the way.

Despite missing an early penalty, Man Utd must be relatively pleased; holding their own at the Nou Camp means that Barcelona will be on their back foot when they arrive at Old Trafford, but it could still go either way. If Barcelona make it through it is more for luck that a high degree of footballing skill.

Although providing a dismal performance at the Nou Camp last night, Barcelona managed to hold on to their one goal advantage against Schalke and even improve on it with a 43rd minute goal from Yaya Toure. That wasn’t enough for the supporters though, who were vocal in their condemnation of the teams under performance to the extent that they cheered Schalke.

The visitors, in truth, were unlucky, as they had been in the first leg of the quarter final. However, sometimes luck is all that counts, as was clearly the case for Barça last night. They go on to play Manchester United in the semi-finals, although it is hard to imagine that they will progress to the final on current form.

Frank Rijkaard’s problems are far from over despite a win against Schalke last night. Bojan’s goal in the 12th minute put Barça ahead at the start, but sloppy playing and lack of passion or energy meant they were barely able to hold on to their winning position.

The second half was particularly poor, with Schalke clearly outplaying Barcelona. Although their supporters were vocal in their view that Schalke scored throughout, they failed to give enough encouragement to the home team to score. However, during the final few minutes it looked as though a goal was inevitable, with Schalke attacking Barcelona’s goal again and again, and with Barça players clearly time wasting, it must have been a huge relief when the final whistle went.

Although they have limped past this leg of the Champions League, the return is next week. And with Barcelona’s dismal performance over the last month have ensured that some big changes are sure to happen at the club at the end of the season.

After FC Barcelona’s stunning defeat by Betis on Saturday night, it remains to be seen whether they have what it takes in Champions League. Although Schalke has not progressed to this stage on Champions League before, it could turn out that tonight they will be giant killers.