Three British teams meet same opponents from last season

Another record was written in the UEFA annals this season as all six clubs from England and Scotland qualified for the Champions League group phase.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United were joined by Scottish duo Celtic and Rangers.

Apart from Celtic and Chelsea, the other British teams obtained positive results in their opening group matches.

Celtic lost 0-2 at Shakhtar Donetsk while Chelsea could only manage a 1-1 (Shevchenko) draw at home to Rosenborg.

Jose Mourinho is no longer at the helm at Chelsea but the Blues are strong enough to bounce back.

The other four outcomes: Arsenal-Sevilla 3-0 (Fabregas, Van Persie, Eduardo); FC Porto-Liverpool 1-1 (Kuyt); Sporting Lisbon-Manchester United 0-1 (Ronaldo); Rangers-VfB Stuttgart 2-1 (Adams, Darcheville pen).

Arsenal recorded a stunning result against Sevilla, the UEFA Cup holders.

The second group matches will be played next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Chelsea, Celtic and Manchester United face teams they met last year - Valencia, Milan and Roma - respectively.

The six challengers for the UK teams are from France (two), Italy (two) and one each from Portugal and Romania.

Chelsea, who reached the semi-finals in 2006/07, will cross swords with Valencia, whom they met in the quarter-finals last season.

The Blues emerged victorious 3-2 on aggregate - 1-1 (Drogba) at Stamford Bridge and 2-1 (Shevchenko, Essien) at the Mestalla.

Chelsea became the first English club to win on Valencia's patch in 40 years, emulating Leeds who beat the Spaniards 2-0 (Giles, Lorie) at the same venue in the Fairs Cup of 1967.

Success in the Champions League is still Chelsea's main target after the Londoners reached the last four of the tournament in three of the last four seasons.

Chelsea, now under Avram Grant, are unbeaten in their last six home matches - five wins and a draw that came against Valencia.

Their last upset at Stamford Bridge was the 1-2 loss to Barcelona in the first leg of their second round knockout match in 2006.

Massacre of Roma

The 7-1 mauling of Roma by Manchester United at Old Trafford last season was the biggest victory ever in a quarter-final match in either the European Cup or the Champions League since Real Madrid thumped Sevilla 8-0 in 1957-58 for a 10-2 aggregate.

United's aggregate score over the two legs was 8-3. That humiliation of an Italian side was avenged by Roma's Serie A fellows Milan, who beat the Red Devils 5-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

Manchester United have lost twice to Italian sides at Old Trafford as these statistics show:

2006-07 (Champions League, semi-final) Milan - 3-2.

2006-07 (Champions League, quarter-final) Roma - 7-1.

2004-05 (Champions League, second round) Milan - 0-1.

2002-03 (Champions League, group match) Juventus - 2-1.

1999-2000 (Champions League, group match) Fiorentina - 3-1.

1998-99 (Champions League, semi-final) Juventus - 1-1.

1998-99 (Champions League, quarter-final) Inter - 2-0.

1997-98 (Champions League, group match) Juventus - 3-2.

1996-97 (Champions League, group match) Juventus - 0-1.

1983-84 (Cup Winners' Cup, semi-final) Juventus - 1-1.

1976-77 (UEFA Cup, second round) Juventus - 1-0.

1968-69 (European Cup, semi-final) Milan - 1-0.

1957-58 (European Cup semi-final) Milan - 2-1.

Extra-time exit

Celtic qualified for the group stages following a dramatic 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory over Spartak Moscow.

On their way to lifting the Champions Cup last season, Milan had also encountered Celtic in the second round. The Glaswegians produced a brave performance over two legs and were eventually elbowed out only after extra-time in San Siro through a goal by Kaka.

After a 0-0 draw at Celtic Park, the Bhoys went down 0-1 in Milan.

In addition to this clash, Celtic, the first British winners of the European Cup in 1967 (beating Inter 2-1), met Milan twice, going down 0-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the European Cup in 1969 and gaining a point from the group phase matches of 2005 in the Champions League.

Reds face French again

Liverpool, having figured the final twice in the last three years (both against Milan - won once and lost the other), will square up to another French side after they knocked out Toulouse 5-0 (away 1-0: Voronin; home 4-0: Kuyt 2, Crouch, Hyypia) on aggregate in the third round qualifying.

Olympique Marseille, who have ex-Liverpool players Djibril Cisse in attack and Boudewijn Zenden in midfield, are expected to be tough clients.

Although they have struggled in the Champions League and failed to advance past the knock-out phase in the last decade, Marseille lifted the UEFA Cup in 2004, beating Liverpool en route.

In the fourth round, after a 1-1 draw at Anfield, the French won 2-1 in the home leg.

In nine meetings against French sides on the continent, Liverpool have never lost at home but they were eliminated three times over two legs.

Besides Marseille, they succumbed to Paris SG 2-3 (aggregate) in the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1997 and by the same scoreline to Strasbourg in the second round of the UEFA Cup a year later.

Gunners smash Sparta

Arsenal, who were also involved in a qualifying round to reach the knock-out stage, beating Sparta Prague 5-0 (away 2-0: Fabregas, Hleb; home 3-0: Fabregas, Rosicky, Eduardo) face Steaua Bucharest, of Romania, next week.

The Gunners started with a bang in the round robin phase after they failed to win five of their eight matches (group and knockout stage) last season.

This will be only the second time that Arsenal will play a Romanian side in Europe.

In 1969-70, they annihilated Dynamo Bacau 9-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the Fairs Cup - home 7-1 (George 2, Sammels 2, Radford 2, Graham); away 2-0 (Sammels, Radford).

The remaining tie involves Rangers, who travel to Lyon. The Glasgow club had to go through two qualifying rounds to reach the group phase. They ousted Montenegro's FK Zeta 3-0 on aggregate and Serbia's Red Star 1-0 over two legs.

This is the first clash between Rangers and Lyon. The latter faced Scottish opposition only once, beating Celtic 2-0 (H 1-0, A 1-0) in the second round of the UEFA Cup in 1999-2000.