Winners and losers: Barcelona's bombastic brilliance, Pep Guardiola's halo slips

As a rule, you want commentators to provide context and detail during a match rather than wax lyrical about just how exciting it all is. But when Gary Neville spent much of Wednesday’s game between Barcelona and Bayern Munich playing superlative roulette with himself, it was impossible not to abandon the cynicism and get swept up.

This was a fascinating match, bookended by two 15-minute spells of ludicrous, frantic action: one of which could easily have put the tie beyond Bayern and another that probably has done. In between came an hour or so of tactical ebb and flow, the two best sides on the continent feeling each other out, jabbing and dodging like prizefighters in the Catalan night.

With the greatest respect to Real Madrid and Juventus, this was the final everybody wanted. The consolation, after the draw, was that there would at least be two matches rather than one; 180 minutes that could perhaps be savoured more than the usual inertia of a final.

Barcelona were in no mood to cater for the neutral, however. A brief wobble early in the second half aside, the Blaugrana always had the upper hand and eventually got what they deserved, Lionel Messi scoring two routinely timeless goals and Neymar slotting a third through the legs of Manuel Neuer as a punch-drunk Bayern went in search of an away goal.

Much has been made of Luís Enrique’s gentle tweaking of the Barca blueprint and how Messi has enjoyed the freedom afforded to him in this system. But just as important has been the improvement in Barcelona’s energy levels. Part of that is down to personnel (Ivan Rakitic, for instance, gets through more running than Xavi has been able to in the last couple of years) but the effect is so widespread that it must be the product of work done on the training ground.

Bayern are not a disorganised side. Nor are they an unfit one. But Barcelona had them dizzied and puffing during that mesmerising second-half salvo. The Bavarians have overturned first-leg deficits before, of course, but this felt like game over.

The other semi-final is still very much in the balance thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s away goal in Turin, but the real stars of the show in that game were Juventus’ strikers.

Alvaro Morata’s goal may have been a tap-in, but the young Spaniard turned in an impressive all-round display against his former club, holding the ball up with cold-headed class and using his strength to make life tricky for Pepe and Raphael Varane throughout.

When Real sold Morata, they reportedly attempted to include a clause that would have prevented him featuring against them in competitive games. That didn’t come to fruition, but there may still be some legs in a clause that did end up in the deal – a buy-back option that allows Los Blancos to have first refusal on the 22-year-old in the event that Juve decide to sell. (Not that that looks likely any time soon.)

Morata’s goal owed much to the movement of Carlos Tevez, who later scored the winner from the penalty spot to cap a typically lively performance. The Argentine’s quality has never been in doubt, but he has added remarkable consistency and reliability to his game since joining the Bianconeri. Part of that can be put down to maturity, with the Argentine having outgrown the impetuousness that occasionally threatened to overshadow his immense talent.

But there is as element of nurture, too. After being forced to play second fiddle to Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United, then Sergio Aguero in the second half of his spell at Man City, Tevez has always been treated as the main man at Juve, starting almost every game and reaping the benefits. No wonder fans of the Old Lady love him as much as those of Corinthians and Boca Juniors (two other clubs where Tevez was shown plenty of TLC) do.

A brilliant save to deny Luis Suarez kept Bayern in the match right at the start, but was bettered early in the second half by a trademark shuttle-run out of his area to thwart Neymar. Exceptional, proactive goalkeeping from the best in the business.

For quarter of an hour at Camp Nou, Guardiola’s tactics were the story. The line between genius and madness is a thin one and the Bayern boss appeared to have taken a rare misstep with his decision to go with three man markers at the back, as Messi, Neymar and Suarez threatened to run riot.

It did not last long: Guardiola switched to a conventional back four, which gave his side a foothold in the game. Whether this was a pre-meditated move designed to confuse Barcelona, or merely a gamble that failed to pay off and had to be abandoned is up for debate. But either way, it did not work, and Guardiola must have had a sleepless night on Wednesday.

Carlo Ancelotti must have been dismayed to see episode two of the Sergio Ramos Midfield Experiment go awry in Italy, but at least the Spaniard was getting the ball enough to actually make mistakes. Gareth Bale, on the other hand, spent the evening chasing shadows, unable to exert any influence at all in central areas and looking isolated when he moved to the right flank in the second half.

The Spanish press certainly weren’t impressed: El Pais described him as “less than sharp”, while Mundo Deportivo said he had “disappeared”. Granted, he has just returned from injury, but this was the kind of performance that will only add fuel to the fire as far as summer transfer speculation goes.