The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has made it clear that his only fear of an all-English tie in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League is because it would not be interesting.
The Old Trafford side is in with a chance of a meeting with Liverpool, who are also through to the quarter-finals of the tournament but Sir Alex thinks it would be a shame to face familiar opponents on such a big stage.
If Arsenal were to qualify from Group D on Wednesday evening after their trip to face Juventus at the Stadio delle Alpi, they too could come up against their Barclaycard Premiership rivals in the quest to become European champions.
Ferguson deflected talk of worrying about all-English clashes by making it clear who he was happy to avoid in the draw for the quarter-finals, which takes place in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday.
The Red Devils boss was just relieved to have topped the group and avoided Real Madrid at this stage.
He said: "Well it depends on how Arsenal do and I think we'll get either Arsenal, Liverpool, Porto or Panathinaikos.
"I think the important thing, though, is that we have avoided Real Madrid and we will take whoever we get.
"We're in the quarter-finals and we're happy to be there. I think it would be great for England if they could get three teams in the quarter-finals, but I wouldn't say that was the reason why we are in European football.
"You can't pick your opponents and if we get Liverpool or Arsenal then fine. We see them so often, though, that it wouldn't be the same."
The Reds beat Boavista of Portugal in a game that never presented the Old Trafford side with a problem against the Portuguese champions.
Ferguson said: "The players were relaxed as they had already qualified. But we did a good job tonight and it was pleasing to win the group with a good performance.
"In the first half our football was really very, very good. For the first 15 or 20 minutes was excellent football and it was a good cushion 2-0 at half-time.
"So I'm very pleased with the result and very pleased with what was a workmanlike performance by us. Liverpool are also in the last eight, courtesy of a 2-0 win over Roma at Anfield.
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