The seasons may change but the prevailing trend in recent editions of the UEFA Champions League, that of English clubs' dominance in the latter stages, has not. No fewer than four Premier League outfits, including last season's finalists Manchester United and Chelsea, are in a quarter-final line-up featuring five former winners with 16 successes between them. Liverpool lead the way on five, Bayern Munich have four, United three and Barcelona and Porto have two apiece.

The big match
Manchester United-FC Porto, Tuesday 7 April, 20.45 CET, Old Trafford
At first glance this clash between the reigning champions and the Portuguese two-time former winners seems a little one-sided. Particularly when you consider that United are on a run of 19 home games without defeat in the Champions League and Porto have recorded one draw and ten defeats from their 11 previous visits to English soil. Yet in the pair's meeting in the last 16 back in 2003/04, a late Costinha strike for the Dragons at Old Trafford sent Jose Mourinho's Porto through 3-2 on aggregate on their way to winning the trophy. Top of their domestic league, the blue-and-whites are a compact side who are difficult to break down, and also boast a fearsome goal-getter in the Argentinian Lisandro Lopez.

The Red Devils, for their part, go into the game having put an end to a run of two consecutive league defeats with a last-minute 3-2 victory over Aston Villa - the winner coming from 17-year-old Italian debutant Federico Macheda. And though Macheda's wonder strike may prove invaluable to the title hopes of Sir Alex Ferguson's charges, it failed to completely cover up their recent shaky form.

The other games
Liverpool-Chelsea
History just keeps repeating itself for these two English heavyweights, as the Reds and the Blues prepare to meet in a Champions League knockout tie for the fourth time in five seasons. Consistency has been the key for both clubs with last year's beaten finalists Chelsea having reached the semi-finals four times since 2003/04 compared to three last-four appearances over the same period for Liverpool. However, the pair have never previously met at this stage of the competition.

In the teams' previous three knockout meetings, whoever played the second leg at home emerged victorious, though the Anfield outfit will be buoyed by a ten-game unbeaten Champions League run, the 4-0 mauling of Real Madrid in their last European outing and home-and-away Premier League victories over Wednesday's opponents. Chelsea supremo Guus Hiddink, meanwhile, has been quick to point out that Liverpool "hold no secrets" for the Blues, as well as underlining his team's record of four wins from the last five quarter-final ties in the competition.

Barcelona Bayern Munich
This clash between clubs with a rich European pedigree pairs the two most prolific sides of this year's competition against each other, with both having scored an impressive 24 goals in just eight games - an average of three per match. The Catalan outfit, currently flying high atop La Liga, have managed to ally consistency with a sparkling brand of football, thanks in no small part to forward trio Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o.

Bayern, for their part, are the archetypal Jekyll and Hyde team, dominant on the European stage but fragile domestically. Indeed, contrast the Bavarian outfit's unbeaten record in this season's Champions League and their crushing 12-1 aggregate victory over first knockout round rivals Sporting Lisbon with this weekend's 5-1 capitulation at Wolfsburg. This tie will also mark a rematch of sorts between two young coaches, Josep Guardiola and Jurgen Klinsmann, who played against each other in the semi-finals of the 1995/96 UEFA Cup for their current clubs - a tie Bayern won 4-3 on aggregate.

Villarreal-Arsenal
Boosted by the return of midfield orchestrator Cesc Fabregas and comfortably established in the Premier League's top four, though out of the title race, the Champions League is the number-one target of Arsene Wenger and his men. However, the north London outfit have an unenviable record on Spanish soil, having accrued just two wins and two draws from ten visits.

And though they can look back on having scraped past Villarreal at the semi-final stage in 2005/06, the Gunners have also lost three European finals against Spanish opponents. The Yellow Submarine, also fourth in their league, go into the game hit by the double blow of a comprehensive 3-0 defeat by Almeria and the loss to season-ending injury of Spanish international winger Santi Cazorla.

Player to watch
Villarreal's 35-year-old schemer Robert Pires, a veteran of 169 Premier League matches and 62 goals for Arsenal, is set to meet his former club for the first time on Tuesday since moving to Spain in the summer of 2006. The Frenchman played a part in the Gunners' semi-final success over the Yellow Submarine in 2005/06, only to be withdrawn by coach Wenger early on in the 2-1 final defeat by Barcelona after Jens Lehmann's 18th-minute red card.

The stat
4 - For the second consecutive year, English football's big four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have all reached the Champions League quarter-finals - a landmark for the competition. However, three clubs from the same country have reached the last eight on ten occasions.

What they said
"There are things that need correcting between now and the Barça match, where an enormous challenge awaits us. But it's not impossible." Bayern Munich coach, Jurgen Klinsmann.

Have your say
Can Porto shock United at Old Trafford?