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Were there rivalries among players from the two clubs on the national team? Did an unusually contentious run of Clasico games between Real Madrid and Barcelona this spring — four in three weeks in three competitions — affect the dynamics now that the players were together on one roster again? Would it be hard to put all that aside?

For star players like Iniesta and Casillas, the responses have become as familiar as the questions.

“We are the Spanish national team,” said Casillas, the team’s captain. “You play for your country, and there are no rivalries.”

“It’s been a month since these games,” said Iniesta. We’re not going to keep talking about them.”

But talk about them they must. A month

Barcelona took the hard road to Wembley via an embittered semifinal against a Real Madrid that did not dare attack it with guns blazing.

United, meanwhile, sauntered into the final Wednesday. Its veteran coach, Alex Ferguson, selected his reserves for the second leg against Germany’s Schalke 04. And though Ferguson claimed to have had a sleepless night wondering if his nine changes might be a gamble too far, Manchester reached the final, 4-1, 6-1 on aggregate over the two legs.

The final stages of the European Cup, and nowadays the Champions League, is the place for aristocrats, for the richest clubs with the richest players in world soccer.

Barcelona is certainly one of those clubs. United

In the fourth match between the rivals in 18 days, Pedro gave Barcelona a three-goal lead in the home-and-away, total-goals series.

Marcelo scored for Real Madrid in 64th minute off a pass from Ángel Di María, whose initial shot bounced back off a post. Marcelo’s was the only shot on goal by the visitors in the entire match.

“Another setback, like always,” Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas said as Barcelona players celebrated after the final whistle. “We’re not going to get upset because it will just be used against us.”

Barcelona, which will be seeking its fourth Champions League title and third in six years, will play Manchester United or Schalke on May 28 at Wembley stadium in London. Manchester United takes a 2-0 lead into Wednesday night’s second leg at Old Trafford, and the final could be a rematch of the 2009 championship game that Barcelona won, 2-0.

Before a home crowd of 95,701 at Camp Nou, Barcelona again dominated a defensive-minded Madrid, which was without José Mourinho, its suspended coach. Mourinho, who was ejected in the first leg, faces an uncertain future with the club after a disappointing first season that produced only one trophy: the King’s Cup victory against Barcelona.

Madrid trails Barcelona by 8 points in La Liga with four games remaining.

Barcelona, the best team in Spain by a distance, settled its argument with Real Madrid by advancing to the final of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Don’t be fooled by the second-leg score. It ended 1-1 at Camp Nou in Barcelona, but as Lionel Messi danced, as Andres Iniesta returned after injury to make the pass of the season, never mind of this night of teeming rain, the eclipse of Madrid was total.

“Another, like always,” Madrid goaltender Iker Casillas said on television moments after the final whistle. The aggregate score, 3-1 in Barcelona’s favor, was fair even if the first leg of this semifinal in Madrid a week ago had been foul.