Did You Know

* Three of the seven confirmed quarter-finalists are "English," though Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are anything but in terms of management, playing strength or commercial activity. The eighth place will be decided next Tuesday, with Liverpool the clear favorite to become the fourth Premier League side to qualify for the draw three days later.

* Local media calling Frank Rijkaard a liar after he tried to tell them a week ago that Lionel Messi needed careful handling because of his physical state.

* Kasper Schmeichel, a goalkeeper who is 21, and Kelvin Etuhu, a 19-year-old forward, are both, despite their Danish and Nigerian births, graduates of Manchester City's productive youth system. They both made the break through to Premiership soccer this season, but, as the coach Sven Goran Eriksson explained, they are out of his first team at the moment.

* In Asia, Chelsea taking its next small step in what its chief executive Peter Kenyon refers to as his mission to make Chelsea "the world's No. 1 club by 2014." He talks of the brand and the soccer in the same breath. He talks of expanding in China and India, the two big burgeoning economies and TV markets.(***)