Apr 6, 2009, 13:50 GMT
Hamburg - Holders Manchester United and Villarreal aim to shake off the ghosts of the past in the European Champions League quarter-finals when they face Porto and Arsenal, respectively.
Barcelona also hope to end a negative trend in their duel with Bayern Munich while Liverpool and Chelsea is a familiar fixture as the English sides meet for the fifth time in as many years in the elite event.
United host Porto at Old Trafford on Tuesday in the first leg, having overcome a domestic mini-crisis and now poised to avenge their round of 16 defeat against the Portuguese from five years ago.
Costinha's last-minute goal at Old Trafford prompted then-manager Jose Mourinho's famous sprint of celebration along the touchline, something that still rankles at United even though they got some revenge by beating Mourinho's Inter Mialn in the round of 16.
'That was a tough one to take,' said right back John O'Shea. 'The sight of Mourinho dancing down the touchline was not a happy one for many people. It is one of those things that we want to put to bed.'
United welcome back Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic from suspension for the match with Porto, but Dimitar Berbatov, Rio Ferdinand and Anderson are all likely to miss out through injury.
'Porto will be difficult opponents,' said United manager Alex Ferguson, ignoring his team's unbeaten run of 21 matches in the competition.
'I've heard some people suggest that we've as good as got a bye into the final - well that's absolute rubbish.'
United got back on track in England with a last-gasp 3-2 over Aston Villa for the Premier League lead on Sunday, while the Portuguese frontrunners Porto had an easy 3-1 over Guimaraes.
Porto beat Arsenal 2-0 in the group stage, a result that Villareal would also like in the other Tuesday game against the Gunners to erase the bad luck of 2006.
Three years ago Arsenal edged past Villarreal into the final of the elite event on a 1-0 aggregate, when Villarreal's Juan Roman Riquelme had a late penalty dramatically saved by Jens Lehmann.
Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said that 'we were really unlucky in that game' and expressed his hope 'to be able to go to London (for the second leg on April 15) with a useful lead.'
Villarreal lost 3-0 on the weekend at Almeria with Spain winger Santi Cazorla breaking his leg in that game. But Marcos Senna is set to be fit on Tuesday.
Villareal are currently fourth in La Liga, the same position Arsenal hold in the Premier League.
Arsenal will arrive at Villarreal's small Madrigal ground in good heart after Saturday's 2-0 defeat of Manchester City, with Emmanuel Adebeyor and Cesc Fabregas returning from injury.
'Everyone is confident we can win something this season and can go very far...Our form is back, our confidence is really high and we know we can go all the way in the Champions League,' said right back Bacary Sagna.
Arsenal and United are favoured to make the semis, while England is already assured of one team in the final four for the sixth straight year due to the latest Liverpool vs Chelsea match-up.
Liverpool beat Chelsea in the 2005 semis en route to the final and again in the 2007 semis. The teams played to two draws in the 2007 group stage before Chelsea prevailed in last year's semis.
There are no secrets between the sides, and Liverpool hope to carry their domestic form into the European event as the second-placed Reds have won all four league games with Chelsea and United, with United captain Steven Gerrard and fernando Torres on fire in recent weeks.
Chelsea captain John Terry readily admitted ahead of Wednesday's first meeting that 'this is probably the worst time to be facing Gerrard.'
Munich will also not like the timing as they rehearsed in the worst possible way for the Nou Camp date in Barcelona on Wednesday, crashing 5-1 at new Bundesliga leaders VfL Wolfasburg.
Angry coach Juergen Klinsmann said 'the alarm bells are ringing,' with the only good news being that the Bavarians have done much better in Europe all season long, highlighted by 5-0 and 7-1 wins over Sporting Lisbon in the last round.
'I'm not scared of Barcelona. My players know the world will be watching. They'll want to prove themselves and show what they can do,' said Klinsmann.
Munich are led by French ace Franck Ribery, but their shaky defence faces arguably Europe's most formidable attack of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry and others.
But the Germans - whose captain Mark van Bommel won the Champions League 2006 with Barca - have never lost to Barca in Europe, winning both games in the second group stage 1999 and winning and drawing to advance in the 1996 UEFA Cup semis.
'It's going to be a difficult tie. They have so many players who can score goals. They beat Sporting in the last round by a hatful, although we also know we'll have chances against them,' said Henry.
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