体坛英语新闻：United draws Roma again, Liverpool faces Arsenal

BEIJING, March 15 -- Arsenal and Liverpool will face each other for the first time in European competition after being drawn together in the quarterfinals of the Champions League Friday night.

    With four English clubs in the last eight, the most ever from one country, it was almost inevitable that two would meet as the names were drawn at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

    Manchester United faces Roma in a repeat of their clash at this stage last year while Chelsea's quest to win Europe's premier club competition for the first time will be tested by a clash with Turkish last-eight debutant Fenerbahce.

    Barcelona will have home advantage in the second leg after being drawn to play Germany's Schalke.

    With the semifinal draw also being made, the eight remaining clubs now know their prospective paths to the final to be played in Moscow.

    Liverpool could face Chelsea in the last four, having beaten its Premier League rival at that stage last year and in 2005. Manchester United and Barcelona are also on collision course in the semifinals.

Arsenal's coach Arsene Wenger smiles during a news conference at the San Siro stadium in Milan March 3, 2008.

    Premier League leader Arsenal, beaten in the final two years ago, will be at home in the first leg against five-time European champion.

    With a Premier League clash on April 5 the sides will meet three times in a week in fixtures that will define their respective seasons.

    "We had hoped to avoid the other (English) teams at this stage," Liverpool's chief executive Rick Parry told Sky Sports News.

    "Unfortunately we play Arsenal in a league game in between so we'll be playing them three times in a week - but there we go."

    Twice winners Manchester United and Roma have plenty of recent history in the competition.

    Roma will have painful memories of the 1-7 drubbing it suffered at Old Trafford last season after a first leg marred by crowd trouble had finished 1-1 in the Olympic Stadium.

    It meets again in the groups stage of this season's competition, with United winning 1-0 at home and the match in Italy ending 1-1. Like last year Roma will be at home first.

    Barcelona will have been relieved to avoid English opponents as it still has memories of recent defeats by Liverpool and Chelsea.

    Schalke, which qualified for the knockout stages despite picking up just eight points in its group, has never met Barcelona before and will need a strong performance at home in the first leg to stand a chance of upsetting the Catalans.

    Likewise Turkish champion Fenerbahce, will aim to benefit from its fanatical home support in the first leg as it tackles Chelsea.

    The quarterfinal first legs will be played on April 1-2 with the returns a week later. The semifinals start on April 22-23.

    In the UEFA Cup, Bayern Munich will face Spanish club Getafe in the quarterfinals. The outstanding tie of the round features PSV Eindhoven against Italian club Fiorentina. Both won penalty shoot-outs on Wednesday to reach the last eight. Germany's Bayer Leverkusen faces Zenit St. Petersburg while Glasgow Rangers is up against Sporting Lisbon.