Barcelona, one of the title favorites, managed to avoid all four English teams left in the competition in Friday's draw and faces Germany's Schalke while Chelsea takes on Fenerbahce

UEFA also made the provisional semifinal draw. The winner of Arsenal and Liverpool meets either Fenerbahce or Chelsea. Schalke or Barcelona faces Roma or Manchester United.

It's the first time that four teams from the same country have made it to the last eight, all hoping to make it to the May 21 final in Moscow.

"I think it's challenging, interesting as well. It's a good opportunity to be consistent against Liverpool because it's three very important games for us," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger whose team meets Liverpool in the Premier League between the two Champions League matches. "It's amazing but not surprising because I have seen that many times."

The draw also means that Arsenal now faces last season's losing finalist, having beaten winner AC Milan.

"We just knocked Milan out and that was a big hurdle and the next one is the (losing) finalist," said Wenger, whose team faces Liverpool in European competition for the first time.

Rafa Benitez' Liverpool ousted the other Milan team, Inter, to reach the last eight.

"It's not the worst moment for us," Benitez said. "We have confidence, playing well, scoring goals, progressing well in the Champions League, beating an Italian team top of their table, one of the best teams in Europe.

"They (Arsenal) know it will be tough for both. Nobody wanted to play an English team."

The Arsenal-Liverpool matchup at least guarantees the Premier League a spot in the semifinals where the winner could then face Chelsea. If it's Liverpool-Chelsea, they would meet in the tournament for the fourth straight season and take their tally of meetings in all competitions to 23 in four years.

Liverpool ousted Chelsea in the semifinals in 2005 and '07 and they also met in group action in 2005-06.

Arsenal, the only current league leader left in the competition, ousted defending and seven-time champion AC Milan in the previous round. Two seasons ago, the Gunners made it to the final only to lose 2-1 to Barcelona.

Liverpool knocked out Serie A leader and champion Inter Milan, and, despite its shaky form in the Premier League, is a perennial powerhouse in the Champions League under Benitez.

The Reds hit back from 3-0 at halftime to beat AC Milan on penalties in the 2005 final in Istanbul after a 3-3 draw to win the title for the fifth time. Last year, it reached the final again only to lose 2-1 to Milan.

Manchester United and Roma have also become regular opponents.

Last season, United beat the Serie A team 7-1 at home to reach the semifinal after a 2-1 loss in Rome. They also met at the group stage this term with United winning 1-0 at home and the two teams drawing 1-1 in Rome.

"It's incredible," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "I had a strong feeling that we would draw an English side.

"It's amazing to think that we will have played Roma six times in a year. That makes it an intriguing tie because we know a lot about Roma, but they know a lot about us."

While Manchester United eliminated French champion Lyon in the previous round, Roma reached the quarterfinals for the second season in a row by ending Real Madrid's hopes of winning the title for a 10th time.

"We are a different team now," Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni said. "We couldn't choose, we got Manchester, now let's try to win. Last year was an ugly game, but we are different now, we have more experience and we are more complete.

"In this last month we have won many games, including the one with Real, and we are now more sure of ourselves. We are psychologically stronger."

Chelsea has reached the semifinals for the third time in four seasons but is yet to make it to the final. It avoided the other three Premier League teams and faces the outsider, Fenerbahce, which ousted two-time UEFA Cup champion Sevilla after a penalty shootout in the previous round.

"Every game in the Champions League quarterfinal is not an easy game," said Chelsea manager Avram Grant, who believes Fenerbahce will be stronger than most people expect.

"They played very well against Sevilla. We know Arsenal lost in Seville. It's not an easy draw but our targets stay the same. We are a club that hasn't been in the final. We want to be in the final."

Fenerbahce said it won't be scared of Chelsea's star studded lineup, which includes Michael Ballack and strikers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka who is playing against one of his former clubs.

"Our rival has amazing players, but other English squads are more like a team," said Fenerbahce winger Ugur Boral. "We are not afraid of anyone. We will go there and play like Fenerbahce. And it's in our advantage that the first game is at home. Our chance is 50 percent."

Schalke edged FC Porto on penalties to reach the last eight and now faces one of the championship favorites.

"FC Barcelona is a fantastic matchup for the club and team," Schalke coach Mirko Slomka said. "It's a great challenge for us, naturally it's a terrific game for our fans. We can play a really good match at home with our fans backing us and then get the right result in the return leg in Barcelona."

Barcelona is struggling to stay in touch with Real Madrid in the Spanish league title race, however, trailing by eight points after last weekend's 2-1 loss at home to Villarreal.

"It's one of the teams that one would choose (to face)," said Barcelona sporting director Txiki Beguiristain, who was also in Nyon for the draw. "But I have to reiterate what we've always said, that the important thing is to play the second leg at home. That motivates us.

"We have a great responsibility because only the great teams make the quarterfinals."

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Tags: Arsenal Faces Liverpool Quarterfinals

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