Barcelona in Champions League semis but form shaky

Barcelona: Soon after reaching the Champions League semi-finals, FC Barcelona began playing down their chances of a second trophy in three years.

By squeaking out a 1-0 win against Schalke on Wednesday, Barcelona set up a last-four clash against Manchester United.

However, the victory did little to ease recent scrutiny over the Spanish team's form.

"I know for a fact that we need to play better if we want to challenge Man United because at the moment they're on a high and it seems like it's going to be difficult to beat them," striker Thierry Henry said.

"But Middlesbrough (who United drew 2-2 last weekend) showed that they can score goals against them. So anything can happen."

Bojan Krkic's cross was deflected up and headed around before falling to goalscorer Yaya Toure two minutes before halftime.

Barcelona advanced 2-0 on aggregate to guarantee a matchup of Europe's only undefeated teams after United beat AS Roma 1-0 also on Wednesday. Both teams have won Europe's biggest club title twice.

Barcelona, who won the Champions League two years ago, have been under heavy criticism for their Spanish league play, where they trail leader Real Madrid by seven points.

Henry recognises that the Catalans will have to be a lot sharper against the English Premier League leader.

"The performance, I think we won't talk too long about it," the France striker said. "At the moment we're not doing great. I think the run that we're having at the moment in the league doesn't help."

"But somehow we're in the semi-finals of the Champions League and a lot of teams would like to be in that position."

Krkic scored at Schalke last week to bring the away-goal advantage back to Camp Nou.

Schalke, playing in their first European quarter-finals in nearly 50 years, started off desperate, but Barcelona took over after weathering the first 25 minutes.

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"It wasn't a surprise but they didn't play like that in the first leg and for that they wanted to come out and play with a more attacking style of football," Henry said. "And it wasn't easy for us.

"After the goal it was much better."

Carles Puyol will miss the first leg against United after the Barcelona center back was yellow-carded for a foul on Asamoah in the 64th.

"We're going to miss Puyol in the first game, but .... we 're going to get Leo Messi back and Deco," Henry said.

Ronaldinho and Deco, two players who have missed lengthy periods to injury, were not in the lineup.

Schalke were not as dangerous in the second half as Barcelona clamped down on the German club and stayed in control.

"The two times we let our guard down they took advantage," Schalke coach Mirko Slomka said. "Barcelona were much more adjusted to the game tonight after scoring. That broke our back."

Barcelona improved to 8-2 in Champions League quarter-finals since they were started in 1992.