Europe's elite gear up for quarter-final showdowns

Holders Real Madrid will face a rampant Manchester United in their showcase Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

Ajax Amsterdam host AC Milan on the same night, followed by two Italo-Spanish clashes between Inter Milan and Valencia, and Juventus's game against Barcelona in Turin.

But the most tantalizing of the four will be in Madrid, when the most successful club in the history of European football plays host to the worlds richest.

The clash of footballing styles, along with the individual battles between the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Roy Keane, Roberto Carlos and David Beckham, and more intriguingly, Ronaldo and Rio Ferdinand, should make it a thriller.

Real, top of the Spanish league and looking to win European soccer's top prize for the 10th time -- in a final which is being held at United's Old Trafford -- will clearly be fancied to win.

Real knocked United out of the quarter-finals three years ago and have since added Zidane, Figo and Ronaldo to the line-up, each one of them a potential match winner.

Real skipper Fernando Hierro, who returned for Saturday's league win over Rayo Vallecano after two months out through injury, said: "Taking into account the strength of both teams, this could be a European Cup final.

"We are two teams with two similar styles, who attack from the first whistle and play attractive football. Neither of will sit back on a lead and that is what makes this, on paper at least, one of the best games you can see in Europe."