British hopes of triumphing in Europe's premier club competition rode high on Wednesday after all its five clubs qualified for the lucrative knockout phase of the Champions League.

Manchester United survived an early scare at Old Trafford, beating Benfica 3-1 and relegating them into the UEFA Cup, while Arsenal played out a 0-0 draw with another Portuguese side, FC Porto, to join them in the last 16.

English champions Chelsea had qualified with room to spare, as had Liverpool and Scottish champions Celtic, who were comprehensively defeated 3-1 at FC Copenhagen as the Danes fought to restore their Viking pride.

All four English Premiership clubs topped their respective groups, meaning no cross-Premiership clashes will take place until the quarter-finals.

Only Celtic, who finished second in group F behind Manchester United, failed to avoid that relative setback which means the Scottish champions will play the first leg of the knockout phase at home.

However, how long any of the five Brits survive is another matter.

The likes of multiple European champions Real Madrid, Barcelona and AC Milan are all in the hat for the December 15 draw.

United manager Alex Ferguson was buoyant after his team's performance on the night, and hopes the two-time winners can go one better than last year's beaten finalists Arsenal.

"There's lot of quality there in the last 16 now - five British teams - and it's absolutely fantastic," said Ferguson. "One of the British teams can win it, hopefully it's us."

From the five British teams have come eight European titles. Liverpool were the last British club to win the continental crown when they won it for a fifth time in 2005, while Celtic became the first British club to be champions of Europe, in 1967.

Neither Arsenal nor Chelsea has claimed the European crown while United have won it twice.

Compare that to records elsewhere on the continent though and the Europeans' track record shines through. Three Spanish teams will face them in the last 16, with defending and 1992 champions Barcelona squeezing in at the last minute with a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

Nine-times European champions Real Madrid, who had already qualified after finishing second in group E behind French champions Lyon, finished their group campaign with a 2-2 draw away to Dynamo Kiev thanks to a brace from Ronaldo.

Valencia, the UEFA Cup winners in 2004, have yet to win the Champions League but qualified with ease from a relatively easy group D with four wins from six matches.

The Champions League would not be complete without the Italians, present despite the match-fixing scandal which brought several giant clubs to their knees.

On Wednesday AC Milan fell 2-0 at home to Lille, allowing the French side to join the last 16 party for the first time. It was a great performance from one of France's solid league clubs, and one which their manager, Claude Puel, was only to happy to shout about.

"We showed a lot of maturity, a lot of know-how," said Puel, who has been to the semi-finals of the competition both as a player and as an assistant coach at his former club, Monaco. "We stayed calm and didn't give any opportunities to Milan, and I think in the end they were lucky we didn't score even more."

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti admitted they had played badly, but promised a re-invigorated approach to the competition once key players return from injury. We'll now wait to see what the draw gives us and, in February, we will welcome back a few key players who have been injured."

AC Milan, like the other group winners, will have the advantage of an away tie first in the next round while two-time winners Inter Milan, who finished second in group B behind Bayern Munich, will play at home first.

Roma, like Lille, joined the last 16 for the first time when they beat Valencia 1-0 on Tuesday to finish second in group D.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who recently celebrated his decade working with the Gunners, joined his old foe, Ferguson, in applauding the influence of the Premiership on the competition.

"That shows how much the Premiership has improved," Wenger told Sky Sports.

Arsenal, only just recovering from their defeat in last year's final, could face Barcelona in the next round, in a rematch of last year's final.

The other clubs to qualify were 1988 winners PSV Eindhoven, four-time winners Bayern Munich and two-time winners FC Porto.

(China Daily December 8, 2006)