The dust has settled on the group phase of the Champions League.
Of the 16 teams through to the first knock-out stage, four are English, namely Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham. Only the Gunners failed to top their group.
This is the fourth time in the last five seasons that all four English teams have reached the last 16 of the Champions League.
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, who also made it past the group phase last term, have been joined by surprise package Tottenham who surprised one and sundry by finishing top of their group in their debut season.
So, the possibility of an English team reaching the Champions League final for the sixth time in seven years is very much alive.
This season, they have an extra incentive as the ultimate showdown will be played at Wembley Stadium in London.
Previous finals involving English clubs (last six years
2005: Liverpool vs Milan 3-3 (after extra-time; Reds win 3-2 on penalties) in Istanbul.
2006: Barcelona vs Arsenal 2-1 in Paris.
2007: Milan vs Liverpool 2-1 in Athens.
2008: Manchester United vs Chelsea 1-1 (aet; United win 6-5 on penalties) in Moscow.
2009: Barcelona vs Manchester United 2-0 in Rome.
Of the six British clubs that qualified for this season’s Cham-pions League, two fell by the wayside.
Scottish rivals Celtic and Rangers failed to make their mark but the latter’s European season is not over as they have now moved into the Europa League after finishing third in their group.
Celtic became early casualties in the Champions League.
In the play-offs, they lost to Portuguese side Braga 2-4 on aggregate but they were still handed a place in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.
Even in this tournament, the Bhoys found the going tough.
Celtic beat Dutch side FC Utrecht 2-0 at Celtic Park but succumbed to a heavy 4-0 loss in the away leg.
As Scottish champions, Rangers started their Champions League campaign in the group phase but failed to claim one of two quali-fying spots in a group also containing Manchester United, Valencia and Turkish champions Bursaspor.
Manchester United remained undefeated in their group matches (Real Madrid were the other unbeaten side), while Arsenal and Tottenham led the scoring charts with a total of 18 goals.
The Red Devils had the best defensive record, one goal conceded in six matches.
Table hereunder shows how the five British clubs finished in their respective groups:
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Chelsea (1) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 15 |
| Man. Utd (1) | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 14 |
| Arsenal (2) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 7 | 12 |
| Spurs (1) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 11 | 11 |
| Rangers (3) | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
The scorers (group phase)
5 − Anelka (Chelsea).
4 − Bale (Tottenham).
3 − Chamakh, Fabregas (Arsenal); Pavyluchenko, Crouch (Tottenham).
2 − Sturridge, Ivanovic (Chelsea); Walcott, Arshavin, Vela, Nasri (Arsenal), Defoe, Van der Vaart (Tottenham).
1 − Malouda, Drogba, Essien, Terry, Zhirkov (Chelsea); Fletcher, Rooney, Nani, Hernandez, Bebe, Obertan, Anderson (Manchester United); Song, Squillaci, Wilshere, Van Persie (Arsenal); Modric, Kaboul (Tottenham); Naismith, Edu, Miller (Rangers).
Tournament marksmen
7 − Eto (Inter)
6 − Messi (Barcelona), Gomez (Bayern Munich)
5 − Soldano (Valencia), Anelka
All statistics
The figures, facts and feats for the four English clubs (in this year’s competition) since the start of the European Cup/Champions League in 1955 to date:
| P | W | D | L | F | A | |
| Arsenal | 145 | 71 | 35 | 39 | 237 | 142 |
| Chelsea | 101 | 52 | 30 | 19 | 159 | 82 |
| Man. Utd | 221 | 124 | 54 | 43 | 417 | 208 |
| Tottenham | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 39 | 25 |
Points average
Man. United - 64.25%
Chelsea - 61.38%
Tottenham - 57.14%
Arsenal - 57.01%
Victories
Man. United - 56.10%
Chelsea - 51.48%
Tottenham - 50.00%
Arsenal - 48.96%
Goals scored per game
Tottenham - 2.78
Man. United - 1.89
Arsenal - 1.63
Chelsea - 1.57
Goals conceded per game
Chelsea - 0.81
Man United - 0.94
Arsenal - 0.98
Tottenham - 1.78