Since the draw for the last four was finalised, much has been made about a possible El Clasico Champions League final at Wembley between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

However, it could just as easily be a match-up between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, the two powerhouses of German football; a "Der Klassiker", as their rivalry has become known in Germany over the last 20 years.

There is a strong case that the four strongest clubs in Europe are left standing in the tournament, particularly given Bayern Munich's evisceration of Juventus, Serie A's runaway leaders, in the quarter-finals. Notably, 10 of the last 12 semi-finalists have been German or Spanish. It was significant, too, that Pep Guardiola chose to end his sabbatical with "Bayern over the noise of England", as El Pais put it.

There are striking similarities between Bayern and Barcelona. The club's playing style was put in place by Louis van Gaal, a coach Guardiola admires and one of the Dutch architects of Barca's tiki-taka model. Bayern's squad, like Barca's, comprises products from its youth system, including Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos, Holger Badstuber and captain Philipp Lahm. The spine of Dortmund's team, too, is homegrown. Seven of their likely XI tomorrow against Real, among them the talents of Mario Goetze, Marco Reus and Sven Bender, have been schooled in-house.

The most distinguishing feature of the semi-finalists is that their fans own the clubs, unlike the foreign custodians of England's top clubs. The quartet are run democratically. Presidents are accountable to members. All four are in rude financial health. Dortmund, who have the biggest gate of any club side in the world, ensure members only have to pay €190 for a season ticket to stand among 25,000 others as part of the 'Yellow Wall' at the south end of the Westfalenstadion.

The stranglehold this year's semi-finalists enjoy in their domestic leagues is troubling, though, and perhaps a marker on the road towards a European Super League. At the weekend, Bayern rested several players ahead of this evening's tie with Barca yet still beat Hannover 96 6-1 away from home. A few weeks ago they trounced Hamburg, one of the old powers of German football, 9-2. The club have equalled Dortmund's record 81-point haul (set last season) with four games left.

German supporters fret over "Spanische Verhaeltnisse"– Spanish relations – the name coined for the duopoly that dominates the Bundesliga. "There's a big difference in performance levels," Uli Hoeness, Bayern's president, said. "We can't be comfortable with that. We must analyse why this is."

The same conversation is conducted in Spanish tavernas every weekend. Last season, Real recorded 100 points on their march towards the title, scoring four goals for every one conceded. Barca could surpass that points tally in winning La Liga this term. Valencia, who finished third last season, were 10 points closer to the relegation zone than they were to the Catalans in second place.

The other teams in La Liga cannot compete financially. This season, Barcelona and Real Madrid are working to a budget of €500m each. Rayo Vallecano have reached eighth place by spending €7m. Barca and Real have more to spend on their B teams than half of La Liga's have for their first teams. Valencia, who have lost David Villa, David Silva, Juan Mata and Jordi Alba over the past three seasons, spent €3.7m last summer in transfer fees. Sevilla spent €3.5m.

Part of the reason is that Spain is consumed with Barca and Real; two thirds of the country's fans support one or the other. Seville is Spain's fourth largest city and has the most heated derby in the country between Sevilla and Real Betis. Yet there are more Real Madrid supporters in Seville than the fans of both those clubs combined. Can you imagine if, in Liverpool, there were more Chelsea fans than Liverpool and Everton ones? One recent La Liga match between two of the other clubs attracted 47 customers on pay-per-view TV.

Television money is at the root of the problem, of course. The big two negotiate their rights separately and will each pull in around €140m this season; approximately €50m more than Manchester United, who are restricted by collective bargaining. Barca and Real rake in 11 times as much as the bottom-placed team in La Liga from domestic sales, compared to a 1.5 multiple between first and last in the Barclays Premier League.

Thirteen clubs from La Liga rallied to force LFP, the Spanish Football League, to address the situation in September 2011. Their attempted strike failed. "The thing is, when Madrid and Barcelona stand before them, when Florentino [Perez, Real's president] starts to talk, the other clubs s*** themselves," one Espanyol director said.

That will not be the case, though; when Germany's two greatest clubs face them on the football pitch.

* Richard Fitzpatrick is the author of El Clasico: Barcelona v Real Madrid, Football's Greatest Rivalry.