LONDON, (Reuters) – Chelsea joined Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League quarter-finals yesterday, increasing the chances of an English team reaching the final at Wembley Stadium.
The last eight also includes Real Madrid and Barcelona from Spain, champions Inter Milan from Italy, Schalke 04 from Germany and Shakhtar Donetsk from Ukraine with the draw for the quarter and semi-finals taking place tomorrow.
Chelsea made it through to the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition for the sixth time in eight seasons.
“We are in the quarter-finals, so let’s see the draw, but we are confident, we have the experience,” Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech said. With Spurs getting past AC Milan and three-times European champions Manchester United beating Olympique Marseille, England have gone one better than last season when only United and Arsenal went through.
Spain’s big two have advanced after Real finally made the last eight following six seasons of failure at the first knockout stage, thumping Olympique Lyon 3-0 at the Santiago Bernebeu for a 4-1 aggregate win.
That kept alive the possibility of their manager Jose Mourinho facing Inter, the club he took to the title last season, or a return to Chelsea, where he won the Premier League in 2005 and 2006.
Barcelona made sure of their place when they knocked out Arsenal, ending England’s hopes of getting all four of teams into the quarters as they did in 2008 and 2009.
The quarter-final first legs will be played on April 5 and 6.
