In a strange way I’m happy Man United aren’t playing in the Champions League semi-finals this week. As much as I obviously like it when we win big competitions, it does get quite stressful at this stage of the tournament and it’s very difficult to actual enjoy watching the games – I’m normally too nervous. So it’ll be nice to sit back and watch the Champions League semi-finals this week and next without having to stress about how we’re playing. Bayern Munich and Real Madrid play their first leg tonight with Chelsea against Barcelona tomorrow. The Chelsea players have said in interviews that they believe they can beat Barcelona and of course they have to be positive about it but they are definitely the underdogs. Barcelona are undoubtedly the best team in the world at the moment and if the likes of Messi and Iniesta are on form – which they always seem to be – it’ll be a very tough game for Chelsea. Good to watch though.

I’m not the sort of fan to wish ill on our rival clubs – I know a lot of people will want to see Chelsea get properly beaten but I really don’t mind who wins, I’m just looking forward to a couple of good games of football and hopefully lots of goals. For what it’s worth, here are my predictions for the Champions League semi-finals:

• Chelsea v Barcelona first leg: 2-1 to Barcelona.
• Bayern Munich v Real Madrid first leg: 2-2.
• Chelsea v Barcelona second leg: 4-1 to Barcelona, making it 6-2 on aggregate.
• Bayern Munich v Real Madrid second leg: 3-2 to Real Madrid, making it 5-4 on aggregate.

So if I was a betting man I would put a bit of money on a Real Madrid v Barcelona final. I won’t give a prediction for the final result until the semi-finals have been played because you never know, Chelsea might just pull off something unexpected.