England still tops with two teams in last eight

Despite the elimination of Liverpool in the group stage and Chelsea in the second knockout round, English Premier League clubs are still on top of the heap, along with France, with two teams having reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season.

In the last two years, England had all four teams still in contention in the last eight of the competition.

Chelsea have bowed out in the knock-out phase for the eighth time since their Champions league debut.

1999-00: quarter-finals to Barcelona 4-6 (home 3-1, away 1-5).

2003-04: semi-finals to Monaco 3-5 (away 1-3, home 2-2).

2004-05: semi-finals to Liverpool 0-1 (home 0-0, away 0-1).

2005-06: second round to Barcelona 2-3 (home 1-2, away 1-1).

2006-07: semi-finals to Liverpool 1-4 on penalties (home 1-0, away 0-1).

2007-08: final to Manchester United 5-6 on penalties (1-1 after extra time).

2008-09: semi-finals to Barcelona 1-1 on away goals rule (away 0-0, home 1-1).

2009-10: second round to Inter 1-3 (away 1-2, home 0-1).

Liverpool have failed to progress from the group phase for only the second time. The other occasion was in 2002-03.

Manchester United and Arsenal emerged from their group with a total of 13 points and on top of the standings.

Group B: Man. United 13; CSKA Moscow 10; Wolfsburg 7; Besiktas 4.

Last 16: United vs Milan away 3-2 (Rooney 2, Scholes); Home 4-0 (Rooney 2, Park, Fletcher).

Group H: Arsenal 13; Olympiakos 10; Standard Liege 5; AZ Alkmaar 4.

Last 16: Arsenal vs Porto away 1-2 (Campbell); Home 5-0 (Bendtner 3, Nasri, Eboue).

Leading scorers

7 − Ronaldo (Real Madrid).

4 − Bendtner (Arsenal), Rooney, Owen (Manchester United), Messi (Barcelona), Jovetic (Fiorentina), Dzeko (Wolfsburg), Pjanic (Lyon), Falcao (Porto), Krasic (CSKA Moscow).

Arsenal-Barcelona

In the quarter-finals, Arsenal will face Champions League holders Barcelona who beat Manchester United 2-0 in the final in Rome last year.

Arsenal play the first leg at the Emirates Stadium as Barca will be looking to break the holders' jinx as the winners of the Champions League have never succeeded in retaining the trophy the following year since the competition was revamped in 1992.

In 2006, Arsene Wenger's side lost 2-1 to Barcelona in the ultimate showdown in Paris. Arsenal had to play for most of the match with 10 men following the early dismissal of goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

Striker Thierry Henry left Arsenal and joined the Catalan side in June 2007 for £16m. Sol Campbell scored Arsenal's goal in the final and he can play a part or start the game next Wednesday. The other members of the current squad who played in the Arsenal-Barcelona final are Emmanuel Eboue, Cesc Fabregas and Manuel Almunia.

The only other occasion when the two sides met in Europe also came in the same competition in 1999-2000. In the group phase, Arsenal earned a draw at the Nou Camp but conceded a 2-4 defeat at Highbury.

United-Bayern

Manchester United will travel to Munich, the city still remembered for the horrific air crash that decimated the Red Devils' squad on their return from Belgrade after an away leg of the European Cup in 1958.

Alex Ferguson's team will face Bayern Munich who rode their luck to topple Italian side Fiorentina in the previous round.

In-form striker Wayne Rooney will continue his duel with Barcelona's Lionel Messi for the tournament's best player and scorer this season.

United travel to the Allianz Arena on Tuesday where Bayern, managed by the shrewd Louis van Gaal, are still unbeaten in the league.

The most memorable match between United and Bayern was the final of 1999 in Barcelona.

The Germans looked on their way to claim the silverware but United kept pressing their opponents and overturned the outcome with two late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

That victory ended United's 31-year wait to win the European Cup for the second time in their history.

United met Bayern on three other occasions in the tournament, thus:

1998-99 (group): Away 2-2; Home 1-1 (two points each).

2000-01 (quarter-final): Bayern Munich − Home 0-1, Away 1-2 (1-3).

2001-02 (group match): Away 1-1; Home 0-0 (two points each).

Meanwhile, Fulham and Liverpool advanced to the last eight of the Europa League after turning the tide in their favour in the second legs last week.

The Cottagers were 1-3 in arrears but ousted Juventus after winning the return leg 4-1 (5-4 aggregate).

At Anfield, Liverpool had a one-goal deficit to cancel against Lille and they succeeded in going through 3-1 on aggregate with Fernando Torres in fine fettle for the Reds.

In the quarter-finals, Fulham play Wolfsburg at home next week while Liverpool travel to Benfica for the first leg.