There may be the international round of fixtures so coveted by Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, after all. One difference: it will be going by the name of the Champions League quarter-finals.

Chelsea became the third English club to enter the last eight of the most prestigious European tournament last night and, with Liverpool expected to make it a quartet when they take a 2-0 lead to Inter Milan’s San Siro stadium next week, it is likely that half of the teams in the draw in Nyon, Switzerland, a week tomorrow will be from one league: a first.

It is too early to get excited; three is quite common. Since 1998, a trio of teams from one country has reached the quarter-finals on nine occasions and from England twice (Manchester United, Arsenal and Leeds United in 2001, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea last season), but four is the magic number. If Liverpool stay strong in Milan on Tuesday, English football will have made history.

Liverpool may have it tough, but Chelsea went through without breaking sweat. Credit to them, this was an assured, commanding performance, but it helped that Olympiacos were shocking, arguably the weakest team seen at this stage of the competition since it converted to a 32-club extravaganza in 1999-2000. One can only ponder the ability of Werder Bremen and Lazio if the Greek champions were able to finish level on points with Real Madrid in group C.

Perhaps European football is fragmenting, as the leading domestic leagues have done, into a two-tier system based on wealth. Olympiacos keep winning the Greek league because regular Champions League football gives them the business advantage, but they cannot compete with the real elite of Europe, whose regular ventures into the knockout phase bring even greater riches.

Chelsea have reached the quarter-finals in four of their five seasons in the Champions League. They are in a different class, financially and technically, and last night it showed. Their bench would have had the beating of Olympiacos, let alone their first team.

Chelsea were very good, but they did not need to be for long. A goal up after six minutes, two clear after 25, they scored a third from the first attack of the second half and declared the event over. Olympiacos showed a spark only when Fernando Belluschi, a substitute, came on and Chelsea switched off; he hit the bar and caused a few problems from free kicks around the penalty area. Chelsea had three players booked during this period, even if Frank Lampard once more looked unfortunate to be punished, and that may come back to haunt them when the stakes grow higher.

That aside, it was a drive in the country. Olympiacos’s resistance lasted no longer than Chelsea’s first attack in each half and from the time the second goal went in, Avram Grant’s men were cruising to the quarter-finals with the windows down and something summery by Van Morrison on the stereo.

After the delights of Arsenal’s win against AC Milan at the San Siro on Tuesday, this was an anticlimax, but while Chelsea’s conservatism is so often blamed for a dull 90 minutes, for once it was not their fault. For a team with vast European experience, Olympiacos had nothing to offer. It was not that they lacked ambition, more that they lacked anything at all.

Carlo Cudicini, the Chelsea goalkeeper, who was standing in for Petr Cech after he injured an ankle in training the morning before the match and will be missing for up to three weeks, was untroubled until late in the second half, when he let a free kick by Belluschi go and was startled to see it hit the bar. At the other end, Antonios Nikopolidis, the Olympiacos goalkeeper, was less fortunate and the game was only six minutes old when his defence suffered a breach.

Lampard collected a throw-in on the left and whipped in a cross that Michael Ballack met with his head. Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, had said before the match that he was mildly concerned that it could be a nervous night if goals did not come early. He need not have worried. Olympiacos could not deal with anything in the air and lacked the grit to match Chelsea’s physical presence. The first goal was an exercise in simplicity and there was no sign of tension in the ground. Olympiacos did not give anyone time to get nervous.

Within 20 minutes Chelsea had scored a second and the game was as good as over. Again, Olympiacos had the chance to mount a straightforward rearguard action but lacked the determination. First, Claude Makelele won a header from a clearance, then John Terry won another and Ballack’s shot was saved before Lampard got to the loose ball first for a tap-in.

You want to know how comfortable Chelsea were? Makelele had a crack at goal. Twice. Once after 19 minutes, again after 68. The crowd roared and laughed. It was like a testimonial game. Chelsea had further chances and would not have been flattered had the work of Didier Drogba and Joe Cole been rewarded.

When the second half brought no change of tempo, Chelsea took advantage again, scoring from a corner by Lampard, courtesy of another debacle at the back. Drogba got a touch, Ricardo Carvalho another and Salomon Kalou scrambled the ball over the line from two yards. “Are you Brentford in disguise?” the Chelsea fans sang to the red-and-white-striped visiting team and it would have been an easy mistake to make. It is Barnsley and Derby County next. Amazingly, they may give Chelsea more of a game.

Chelsea (4-3-3): C Cudicini – P Ferreira, R Carvalho, J Terry, A Cole – M Ballack, C Makelele, F Lampard (sub: M Essien, 75min) – J Cole (sub: S Wright-Phillips, 78), D Drogba, S Kalou (sub: F Malouda, 69). Substitutes not used: Hilário, Alex, J Belletti, N Anelka. Booked: Lampard, Ferreira, Terry.

Olympiacos (4-3-2-1): A Nikopolidis – M Zewlakow, P Antzas, Júlio César, A Pantos – C Patsatzoglou, K Ledesma (sub: F Belluschi, 52), I Stoltidis – V Torossidis (sub: M Sisic, 75), P Djordjevic (sub: Leonardo, 57) – D Kovacevic. Substitutes not used: M Sifakis, L Núñez, K Mendrinos, M Konstantinou. Booked: Pantos. Referee: M González (Spain).

Pepe sent off in Real exit Real Madrid were knocked out of a competition they have won nine times after losing 2-1 to AS Roma at the Bernabéu last night, the Italian team progressing 4-2 on aggregate. Real’s chances of levelling the tie suffered a blow in the 71st minute when Pepe, the defender, was sent off for a challenge on Mirko Vucinic on the edge of the home team’s penalty area. Two minutes later, Rodrigo Taddei, the midfield player, put Roma farther ahead in the tie with an excellent header.

Raúl gave Real hope after receiving Robinho’s pass in the 75th minute and beating Doni, the visiting team’s goalkeeper, but Vucinic’s 90th-minute goal ended the Spanish champions’ interest in European competition this season.