Give us anyone but another English club, says proud Terry

After Chelsea's 3-0 victory over Olympiacos, the captain said he expected Liverpool to get through against Inter Milan next week, thus completing the unprecedented feat of one nation providing four quarter-finalists in the last eight.

And although confident that his resurgent Blues "have as good a chance as anyone" left in a competition which has already seen the demise of big clubs like Milan and Real Madrid, Terry conceded he didn't fancy being paired with either Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United when the draw was made next week.

"When you've got this far and then draw someone in your own league, it is not the best thing and you don't really want to find yourself playing any of those three at this stage," said Terry, who has painful memories of two semi-final defeats at the hands of Liverpool.

"But if it comes, we'll happily take it. We're playing with real confidence again and if we want to win the Champions League we know eventually we'll have to beat everyone."

Terry reckoned that, as England captain, the burgeoning supremacy of the Premier League made him proud. "It's continuing an English success story in this competition which is amazing. English sides have dominated over the last four seasons and we're all great sides who can pass the ball and play technically at a high level to match any teams in the world," he said.

If they do not meet English opposition, Chelsea will be up against either Barcelona, Schalke, Fenerbahce or Roma, who won in Madrid last night. Of those left, only 2006 champions Barcelona possess a real intimidation factor.

Terry said: "There are still many great sides left in the tournament, but if we play like we did against Olympiacos, we'll have as good a chance as anybody. There's a real appetite from the players to win this tournament now. We've missed out on a few occasions so we're desperate to take that extra step and get our hands on the trophy."

Salomon Kalou, whose first strike in European competition completed the rout begun by goals from Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard, also claimed: "It's better to keep the English teams for later - best in the final!"

But man-of-the-match Ballack warned that there were eerie echoes of last season's competition. "Look at last year, when we had three English sides in the semifinalsbut in the end none of them could go on to win the trophy."

The impressive midfield partnership of Ballack and Lampard prompted Terry to pronounce: "The two of them worked really well and hopefully that will have shut a few people up because they're two world-class players with great movement who can play together."

Terry announced that the team had dedicated their victory to one of their backroom staff Frank Steer, whose mother passed away yesterday.