Last updated 12:07, Friday, 21 March 2008

WITH the Champions League final getting ever so closer, it made me proud as an Englishman to see three of our clubs making it into the final eight this week.

I have no alliance to any Premier League club but I do like it when our boys - well our foreign boys - take the English clubs through.

Manchester Utd put in a pretty lacklustre performance against Lyon on Tuesday night but still managed to scrap through.

Who scored? Stupid question.

Ronaldo is just a different class. And although his goal was not a wonder strike by his standards, it was the all-important goal.

United were frustrating at times, losing possession and not finishing off their French opponents. But Lyon didn’t really threaten.

It is good to see Nani and Anderson have settled well to life in English football. After their summer moves from Portgual, I didb’t think either would set the world alight, but you could still tell that they were class.

Carlos Tevez is the real deal too. Described this week as the ‘new Cantona’ by Sir Alex Ferguson, which is a massive accolade to have bestowed upon you as the Old Trafford faithful still belt out their former hero’s name.

Arsenal were fantastic beating the current European champions at home.

Despite being well off the pace in Serie A this season, AC Milan are a formidable force at home. Only Roma, who knocked out Real Madrid, and lowly Empoli have won at the San Siro this season.

After becoming the first British team to win at the San Siro, Cesc Fabregas is now confident the Gunners can go on to win not only the Champions League but the Premier League as well.

He said: “We are top of the Premier League and through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

“We beat the holders at home, so why can't we win them both?”

He is absolutely right. The Gunners are a young and enthusiastic team, with skill to burn. Fabregas, was just one of 13 in an Arsenal squad who was under 25 years old.

Compare that to the Milan squad with an average age of 30. Including a 39-year-old Maldini. The man has been around forever and is a credit to himself keeping his fitness up against lads who are half his age.

Chelsea did what Chelsea do at Stamford Bridge, and that’s win.

Chelsea coach Avram Grant has come under unnecessary criticism in the press for the Carling Cup Final. The man made a choice and it didn’t come off. He sent out a team that he believed would beat Spurs; they didn’t, but he has bigger fish to fry and the Champions League is a priority for the top clubs.

Liverpool with their 2-0 advantage should really join their English counterparts in the quarter-finals.