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Champions League semifinal draw produces great matchups but not Clasico

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 05: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona (L) hugs his Head coach Josep Guardiola of FC Barcelona after scoring his team's third goal during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol at Camp Nou on May 5, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. This was Guardiola's last match. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

If you wanted to see a Clasico in the UEFA Champions League semifinals, you'll have to wait another round. Provided Barcelona can overcome Bayern Munich and Real Madrid bests Juventus to reach the June 6 final in Berlin.

[FC Yahoo: Chicharito sends Real Madrid to Champions League semifinals]

Because the Spanish archrivals avoided each other in Friday's semifinals draw, which will give us some appetizing matchups all the same.

[FC Yahoo: Neymar scores twice (at David Luiz's expense) to send Barcelona into semis]

On May 6, Bayern, winners of this thing in 2013 and finalists in 2010 and 2012, will travel to Barcelona. There, the Bavarians' manager Pep Guardiola will face the club that brought him up as a player and then gave him his start as a head coach. As you'll recall, he returned the favor by winning 14 trophies in four years, including the Champions League in 2009 and 2011. Now he'll be expected to do it for Bayern.

And there's an interesting precedent there. In the 2012-13 edition of this tournament – the season after Guardiola left Barcelona, citing something of a burnout and taking a year-long sabbatical; but before he took on Bayern in the summer of 2013 – the Germans beat the Catalans 7-0 on aggregate at this very stage on the way to winning the whole thing.

In the other tie, kicking off on May 5 in Turin, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti also faces a former employer. He managed Juventus from 1999 until 2001, when he was fired. That's when AC Milan appointed him, and he won the Champions League twice in 2003 and 2007. The former year, incidentally, was the last time Juve made it as far as the semifinals, before the Calciopoli scandal saw the club relegated and having to rebuild.

Ancelotti won the Champions League with Real last year as well, finally completing the club's decimal, its 10th European crown. Now, Real Madrid will attempt to become the first side to repeat during the Champions League era (1992-present). Before that, Real had actually won the original European Cup in its first five editions.

The neutral might root for a first-ever Barca-Real final, but the Catalans will have a hard time getting past Bayern. The Germans looked a tad shaky in the first leg of their quarterfinals with FC Porto, losing 3-1 in Portugal. But a 6-1 demolition at home quickly righted all of that, setting the Germans back on course for a sixth title of their own.

So the Barca-Bayern matchup is simply too close to call, with some of Europe's finest offensive firepower fighting it out. And Real are the favorites against Juve in what will doubtless devolve into a game of tactical chess between Italian managers.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.