Champions League 2017/18: Ranking the 8 quarter-finalists

#1 Real Madrid

Real Madrid and Ronaldo love the Champions League

The first team to retain the Champions League crown when they won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, Real Madrid are the favourites to make it three in a row. Zinedine Zidane's men endured a disastrous start to the season which saw them knocked out of Copa del Rey, run out of La Liga contention pretty early and finish second to Tottenham in their Champions League group.

However, a team which has won Europe's top-tier tournament thrice in the past five years, Los Blancos are full of seasoned superstars who bring their top game when the Champions League anthem is played before the match. The likes of Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Marcelo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema are form-proof when it comes to Europe as PSG found out in the highly-anticipated round of 16 tie.

Finally, Real Madrid have arguably the greatest-ever player in the Champions League knockouts - Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese might not be the deadly winger who burst onto the scene with Manchester United but he is a top goalscorer with a sense of occasion that sets great players apart. The 33-year old is the only player with over 50 goals in the knockout stages, the only player to score in 3 finals and already has 12 goals in the tournament this season.

Thus, the record 12-time winners, with the tournament's record goalscorer have only the Champions League to play for this season. Looking at the way they dispatched PSG with ease, they are once again favourites to land the trophy at the end of the season and make a stronger case to be named the greatest team ever in European Cup history.