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Yeah, it was an 'interesting', rather than 'good', match, with both sides trying to gain some kind of psychological advantage in time for the final. I agree that Bayern effectively won that battle, if only, as you say, by showing they can be competitive even while playing so many second stringers. The awful performance by Schieber, while maybe just a one off, shows that Dortmund are far more likely to struggle if anything happens to their core team.
In terms of sheer strength in depth, Bayern would put most teams even outside Germany to shame. Look at Barca's decline since Messi's injury, and God help them should anything happen to Xavi or Iniesta. The two teams that can compete on that level are Chelsea and Man City but Chelsea are still in a transition period as they wait to bring in a replacement for Benitez and Man City are shackled with a manager who's out of his depth. But given Chelsea's spending power, and assuming rumours that Mourinho's going back there are correct, they may be one of the very few teams that'll be able to compete with Bayern - but even they're likely to be far more handicapped by the Fair Play scheme than Bayern will. And even if everything does work out for Chelsea as planned, I still don't think they'll be fully up to speed until at least another season or two, at least in terms of the CL. Man City have the resources to compete with Bayern right now were it not for Mancini. And if PSG can get their act together they might be competitive, too. Interesting times.
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