PREVIEW-Soccer-Athens in sight for Champions League survivors

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - The winding road to Champions League treasure in Athens next month will make another key turn this week when the eight surviving clubs battle for precious advantages in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

With holders Barcelona consigned to the scrapheap after defeat by Liverpool in the previous round, the draw has thrown up four intriguing ties, Milan's clash against Bayern Munich offering real heavyweight appeal.

Milan are down in sixth place in Serie A but have six European Cups to their name and would view a glorious finale in the Greek capital as redemption for a season that began very much under a cloud.

In the other ties, Manchester United, still on course to repeat their famous treble of 1999, take on Roma; Chelsea, bidding for their first Champions League final, face Valencia and Liverpool do battle with PSV Eindhoven.

Bayern Munich, who have won the European Cup four times, have traditionally struggled to make any impression on Italian soil and the memory of last season's defeat by Milan in the first knockout round will be fresh in their minds.

Milan tore Bayern apart in the San Siro then, winning 4-1 with goals from Filippo Inzaghi, Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka, after the first leg in Munich had been drawn 1-1.

Shevchenko is now at Chelsea but Inzaghi and Kaka remain and will have the German champions in their sights again.