The Champions League quarter-finals of the current season will feature two teams from England, two from Spain, two from Germany, one from France, and one from Italy.
This marks the first time in the last five years that all the "Big Five" countries are represented at this stage, Idman.biz reports.
As was the case last year, there is no team outside the top five leagues in the quarter-finals.
Spain has sent a team to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for 20 consecutive years. The last time Spanish clubs were absent from this stage was during the 2004/2005 season. English clubs have also been consistently represented in the quarter-finals for the last 10 years.
Among the current quarter-finalists, Bayern Munich has reached this stage for the sixth consecutive time, while Real Madrid is aiming for a fifth straight semi-final appearance.
Out of these eight teams, only Aston Villa has never reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The Birmingham-based club is participating in the tournament for the first time, though it won the European Cup (the predecessor of the Champions League) in the 1981-82 season and reached the quarter-finals in the following season.
In the previous seven seasons, the only team that could not make it to the quarter-finals was Manchester City. This time, the Cityzens did not even make it out of the Round of 16.
Vugar Mammadov
Idman.biz
