It's been a while since we have had some top flight European competition to enjoy, but that changes this week. Tuesday marks the start of the quarterfinals stage of the UEFA Champions League competition with three Spanish teams looking to advance.

Spain's top three teams Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid play PSV Eindhoven, Arsenal and Roma respectively. Real Madrid kick off the Spanish slate of the Champions League, traveling to Rome where they face a Roma team starting to recover from a terrible start.

In Real Madrid, Roma drew the toughest opponent, as Zinedine Zidane's men are favored by 84 percent to advance according to SPI. Real Madrid lead the competition in goals scored with Bayern Munich, having scored 19 goals in the group stages. However they struggled in their only legitimate test against PSG (who beat Chelsea to open the stag 2-1 in Paris), and scored most of their goals against paltry competition. None other than Cristiano Ronaldo leads the competition with 11 goals, taking more than double the shots of any other player in the competition.

Tuesday in a press conference Ronaldo held nothing back in his responses, and neither did the journalists in attendance. The Portuguese international was questioned about his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performances at and away from the friendly confines of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. He has gone months without a goal on the road, which may help out the underdog Roma, as they gave up 16 goals in the group stage, most in the competition. 

Statistically, Roma may have drawn the more favored opponent, but Arsenal had the misfortune of drawing the most in-form opponent. Barcelona was cut through their competition the last two or three months like a hot knife through butter. This matchup is the match of the quarterfinal stage as the Spanish leaders player a home and away against England's number two team, a team loaded with international talent just like Barça. 

Barcelona find themselves in a bit of controversy after Messi actually passed a penalty shot to Suarez instead of shooting it, even though they were already up 5-1 on Celta Vigo. Getting back to their form, the Catalan's haven't lost since October 3rd. And it's tough to argue they're ripe to lose now.

Atletico seems to have regained their confidence, winning their last two while scoring five goals in the contests. They won't travel to play their opponent PSV Eindhoven until next week, and face a stiff test from Villarreal over the weekend. Winning against a tough Villarreal side will go a long ways towards bringing their confidence on the road to Holland. Otherwise they could fall into another funk like they recently did, going winless in four straight matches.

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