Zimpapers Logo

LONDON. — For the first time in 10 seasons, four teams from one country will compete in the last eight of the Champions League football.

Liverpool’s victory over Bayern Munich in the last 16 on Wednesday night means England will now provide 50 percent of the quarter-final teams in Europe’s top club competition, with Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham the other English Premier League sides present.

It evokes memories of the 2000s and the two successive seasons that England provided four quarter-finalists (along with six finalists in five years and two winners — Liverpool in 2005 and Manchester United in 2008).

But is this season’s repeat a sign of England’s resurgence on the biggest stage?

There are 105 possible scenarios for the Champions League draw — at 1pm today — which will also determine the semi-final line-ups.

Nine out of those 105 scenarios involve the four English clubs all being drawn against each other — an 8,6 percent chance.

Out of the total possible draws, 72 scenarios have exactly one all-English tie — that’s 66,6 percent.

Therefore, the chance of all four English clubs avoiding each other in the quarter-final draw is 22,9 percent. — BBC Sport.