LONDON (AP) - Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has no fears of another English takeover of the Champions League, even with four Premier League clubs in the quarterfinals, and would welcome the opportunity to knock one of them out. Last season's final was an all-English confrontation between Manchester United and Chelsea and, with Liverpool and Arsenal also in Friday's quarterfinal draw, it could happen again for the May 27 final in Rome. The chances of that happening will be halved if the English teams wind up facing each other in the last eight. Although that would guarantee two Premier League clubs in the semifinals, it would also mean any two from Barcelona, Bayern Munich, FC Porto and Villarreal also getting there. Barcelona was the only non-English team to reach the semifinals last season and was knocked out by eventual champion Man United. With his team six points clear at the top of the Spanish league, Guardiola, who succeeded Frank Rijkaard this season, said his team isn't afraid of anyone. "If you want to win the Champions League you have to play with the best in Europe. So we'll take the challenge," Guardiola said. "It would be nice to taste success against one of the English clubs. If we have to play one of them, it will definitely be a good match." But Guardiola believes few teams will want to meet his star-studded team. "It will be difficult for us but they have to come here to play, so I'm sure it will be difficult for them too," he said. "Whoever our opponents are, we will study them closely and try to pinpoint their weaknesses." Barcelona and United go into the draw as the bookmakers' joint favorites at 5-2 and neutral fans might see that as a great final with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez taking on Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, whose team's odds are 6-1 with William Hill, said the other seven should be scared of the Reds after their 4-0 win over Real Madrid in last week's first knockout round and then their 4-1 Premier League victory at United. "We are not running scared of anybody. We will take who we get and believe that we are going to go through," Gerrard said. "If you are asking me about a fear factor in the Champions League, then I think it is the other seven teams in the draw who are going to have concerns about coming up against us after that Real Madrid result." A five-time winner of the trophy, Liverpool has become used to facing fellow English clubs in the Champions League, having played Chelsea three different times and also knocking out Arsenal last season. But four-time winner Bayern made it to the last eight with an overwhelming 12-1 aggregate triumph over Sporting Lisbon, although it has lost striker Miroslav Klose through injury. Having scored seven Champions League goals this season and 10 in the Bundesliga, Klose injured his ankle in Bayern's league victory over VfL Bochum on Saturday and needed surgery that could rule him out for two months. His usual partner up front, Luca Toni, has missed the last five league games with an Achilles' tendon injury but hopes to return to training later this week. "Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, they are all uncomfortable rivals," Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing said of the draw. "There is not much difference between them." Porto and Villarreal are the outsiders of the eight, who are made up of five previous winners, two runners up and a semifinalist. Villarreal, which ousted Panathinaikos in the previous round, made it to the semifinals three years ago on its debut in the tournament, losing 1-0 on aggregate to Arsenal, and is hoping to make it at least that far again. "We have been in the Champions League before and we are focused on getting as far as possible," said Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini, who has been at the club since 2004. "We will try to keep playing the football we showed we could play in the second half against Panathinaikos. "In our last campaign, we didn't deserve to go out as semifinalists. We should have been in the final. That is in the past, though. We now have to focus on our next opponents and try to beat them."

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