Madrid: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho believes Barcelona are guaranteed a place in this season's Champions League final, alluding to favouritism towards the Catalan club in Europe's premier club competition.
The Madrid boss, speaking after his side's 5-2 win over APOEL at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, claimed a meeting with his former side Chelsea at Munich in May is impossible.
When asked about the two semi-finals in a television interview in the tunnel straight after the final whistle, Mourinho told TeleMadrid: "For me the big question is knowing who will play against Barca in the final. It will be a great semi-final, Bayern against Real Madrid, and the best team will go on to play against Barca."
Mourinho then walked away from his interviewer, who quickly followed up by asking the Portuguese why he was so certain that Barcelona would be in the final. "Because they are very good." the Blancos boss added, before abruptly ending the interview.
Barca will first face Chelsea in the last-four of the competition later this month, in a semi-final tie identical to the one the Catalans won in Pep Guardiola's first season in 2008-09 en route to the trophy. That tie was marked by refereeing controversies in the second match in London, with Mourinho later claiming he would have been 'ashamed' to win in such circumstances, describing the game as 'the scandal of Stamford Bridge'.
Barca beat AC Milan 3-1 on Tuesday to advance to the last-four, but there was more controversy in that match surrounding the award of a penalty to the Catalans for an Alessandro Nesta tug on Sergio Busquets when the ball was out of play.
Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was back at the Camp Nou for the first time since his 2010 exit from the Spanish champions after just one season, expressed his disgust after the loss and echoed his former Inter Milan coach Mourinho in feeling that Barcelona's European success has been helped by match officials following a disputed penalty decision.
"I'm just disgusted," the Sweden striker said. "They are the best team in the world but at 1-1 and, playing with intelligence, you can do something. (But) I understand better why Mourinho gets upset every time he plays here - in my opinion it was not fair."
Mourinho was handed a ban last season after going on a long-winded rant following a loss to Barcelona, when he accused UEFA of aiding the Catalan club to their title in 2009 and in subsequent games.
Barcelona eliminated Arsenal last season in the quarter-finals after Robin van Persie was given a second booking when he continued playing after the whistle early in the second half, with the game tied 1-1. In the semi-finals, Madrid were left with 10 men for most of the second half of their 2-0 semi-final first-leg loss when Pepe was red-carded, which led to Mourinho's criticism.
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