With a number of mouth-watering Champions League quarter-finals due to get underway the UK press have packed their pages full of comment on Manchester United's battle with Bayern Munich and Arsenal's clash with Barcelona.

The Sun features Alex Ferguson claiming United 'love play away', but kudos has to Martin Samuel, who in true Daily Mail style comes over all John Bull and claims it will be England ace Wayne Rooney v Germany in the Allianz Arena.

"This being World Cup year, each Champions League match is also an opportunity for players to put down a marker, the best ones in particular.

Wayne Rooney does not just face Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night, he faces Germany, too. Not the whole team, just the odd player - such as Philipp Lahm, the only Germany player to be present for every minute of every World Cup qualifying game - but enough to get the word out if he does to Munich what he did to AC Milan in the previous round.

We have been here before. On August 24, 2001, Liverpool travelled to Monte Carlo to play Bayern Munich in the final of the UEFA Super Cup. Michael Owen was outstanding that night and terrorised a defence that included German international Thomas Linke and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. Liverpool won 3-2 but were three goals up after 46 minutes. Emile Heskey scored as well.

A week and one day later, England faced Germany in Munich in a World Cup qualifier. We all know what happened next. The 5-1 victory was the watershed result of the Sven Goran Eriksson era. Owen scored a hat-trick, Heskey scored the fifth."

Over in The Times, Matt Hughes focuses on Arsenal's clash with Barcelona, and in particular the mutual respect that both clubs have for each other.

"It is more than a shared admiration for Thierry Henry and Cesc Fàbregas that unites Arsenal and Barcelona, whose meeting on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final has had the purists drooling since the draw was made.

As Arsene Wenger said on Monday, the clubs of choice for romantics are bound by common ideals, whether it be a love of beautiful football, a strong emphasis on youth development or, as their few detractors would put it, a gift for propaganda and mythology.

'There are similarities there,' the Arsenal manager said. 'In the way we play, the way we educate young players, the way we rely on young players and in the sense of belonging to the club.'"