Of dashed dreams under a volcanic cloud

Ten years ago this week, Barcelona limped home from a Champions League semifinal first-leg defeat blaming a volcano thousands of kilometres away and stoking the smouldering fires of Jose Mourinho's feud with the club and their coach.

The eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull on Iceland had sent a plume of ash drifting across Europe, grounding flights and wreacking havoc on sport.

Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola juggles the ball during the second leg of the Champions League semifinal against Inter Milan in 2010. PHOTO: COLLECTED

In retrospect, that Barcelona team, perhaps their finest, could have won a third Champions League title on the trot had a volcanic eruption and Mourinho's pragmatic team not gotten in the way. The most volcanic encounter, however, began at San Siro on April 20.

Barcelona made a 1,000-kilometre trek to Milan over two days, spending a night en route in Cannes. Coach Pep Guardiola used the 14 hours on the bus to show his squad match videos but they also watched Invictus and Inglourious Basterds.

Meanwhile, in Milan, Mourinho schemed. He had seen Pep before, but only as a player. Guardiola was Barcelona's captain for most of Mourinho's time at the club.

Mourinho had joined Barca in 1996, when his mentor, Bobby Robson, became coach. Mourinho translated, but also organised training and played an increasing role in coaching, taking over the B team under Robson's successor, Louis van Gaal.

Barcelona were unhappy with their bus trip and unhappy that the hosts refused to water a scuffed pitch. Inter played like the away team, sitting back even after Pedro gave Barcelona a 16th-minute lead.

Wesley Sneijder levelled by half-time before Maicon and Diego Milito struck in the first 15 minutes of the second half to give Inter a 3-1 win.

"We want to follow a dream," Mourinho said. "But it's one thing to follow a dream and another to follow an obsession. For Barcelona it's an obsession. To have a Catalan flag in the Bernabeu is an obsession," Mourinho said, rubbing salt into Barcelona's wounds ahead the return leg.

Inter parked the bus at the Camp Nou and defended deep, even before Thiago Motta was sent off in the 28th minute. Gerard Pique broke through late and scored four minutes from time to give Barca hope and history would have been different had Bojan Krkic's last-minute goal stood -- cancelled after the referee adjudged Yaya Toure to have handled the ball.

At the end, as Mourinho ran to the Inter fans to celebrate his "most beautiful defeat", the Barcelona sprinklers were turned on.Mourinho's side went on to win the treble that year and in 2010 his pragmatism had won.

He was back as coach of Real Madrid the following season, determined to bring down Barcelona again but, as their rivalry grew poisonous, Guardiola got his revenge in the 2011 semifinals as Barcelona won a treble.