English clubs await European draw

Barca are the only team left flying the Spanish flag in Europe, but they were in ominous form in Wednesday's 4-0 destruction of Stuttgart, which gave them a 5-1 win on aggregate.

The Catalans go into today's quarter-final draw in Nyon, Switzerland along with 2008 winners and last season's runners-up Manchester United, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Lyon, Bordeaux, CSKA Moscow and Bayern Munich.

France find themselves with two teams in the final eight for the first time since 2004 with Bordeaux and Lyon.

Barcelona and Manchester United, both three-time winners, and Inter Milan, two-time champions, are the sides which the other clubs will be hoping to avoid.

Barca president Joan Laporta said that his side were feeling increasingly confident of defending the trophy.

"We are on the right path," said Laporta. "We have very difficult opponents ahead of us. We cannot think about the final. On Friday we will know who we will face and we will continue working as we have until now. They will be some hard-fought quarter-finals."

Arsenal will also be eager to avoid Premier League rivals United, who they lost to in one-sided circumstances in last season's semi-final.

United star Wayne Rooney has been in particularly impressive form for the Premier League champions, reaching 30 goals for the season in the 4-0 thrashing of AC Milan last week.

The Gunners were boosted on Thursday with the news that skipper Cesc Fabregas is poised to return for tomorrow's game with West Ham.

Fabregas has been out since March 6 - missing the matches with Porto and Hull - due to a hamstring injury but is expected to pass a fitness test this morning.

Tomas Rosicky is also anticipated to be fit following a groin problem, but defender William Gallas has "an endless calf injury," Arsene Wenger said.

Gallas has missed the last six games and is set to be out for at least two more matches - missing the Hammers contest and the match at Birmingham on March 27.

"Cesc and Tomas have a final test tomorrow morning," Wenger said. "They should be available for Saturday."

The draw for the Europa League will take place immediately after the Champions League draw, with Fulham and Liverpool hoping to be in the hat after games last night against Juventus and Lille respectively.