The draw for the last eight of Europe's premier competition was due to take place this afternoon at Uefa's headquarters in Lyon.

Three of the eight remaining teams are from Spain's top flight – raising the prospect of Barca and Real Madrid being paired together.

Malaga joined La Liga's traditional giants in the quarter-finals after overcoming Porto in the last 16, giving Spain the highest share of last-eight participants in the Champions League since England had four in 2008-09.

Barca overcame a two-goal deficit from the away leg by winning 4-0 at home to AC Milan on Tuesday night, while last week Jose Mourinho saw his Real stars secure a 3-2 aggregate win over Manchester United and is eager to go all the way.

The failure of United, combined with Arsenal's defeat to Bayern Munich over two legs and Celtic's loss to Juventus, means England is without a team in the last eight for the first time in 17 years.

Reigning European champions Chelsea and Premier League champs Manchester City failed to even reach the last 16

Juventus's victory over Celtic means they have reached the quarter-finals for the first time in seven years, while Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain return to this stage of the competition for the first time in 15 and 18 years respectively.

Galatasaray's success against Schalke also keeps alive veteran forward Didier Drogba's dream of winning the Champions League two years in succession with different clubs.