FC Barcelona versus Italian teams
As Barça prepare for a Europa League clash with Napoli on Thursday (5.45pm CET), here's a look at the club's impressive record against teams from Italy:
Earliest encounters
Barça’s first ever official meeting with an Italian club was against Inter Milan in the 1958-60 Inter City Fairs Cup quarter final. The Catalans won 8-2 on aggregate on their way to winning the trophy for the second time.
Unofficially, however, the first Italian club they played was FC Pro Vercelli in two friendlies in Barcelona 1922, and Barça’s first visit to Italy was to draw 1-1 with Pro Patria of Arsizio in 1954.
Other Italian clubs that Barça have played over the years but only in friendlies are Torino, Padova, Bologna, Montova, Cagliari, Parma, Brescia and Vicenza.
Positive records
In official UEFA competitions, Barça have played nine different Italian clubs over the years (Fiorentina, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio, AC Milan, Napoli, Roma, Sampdoria and Udinese).
Barça has a positive win-draw-lose record against all of those teams except AS Roma, with whom there have been exactly two wins, two draws and two defeats:
Fiorentina 3 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat
Inter Milan 8-4-2
Juventus 6-4-5
Lazio 1-0-0
Milan 8-6-5
Napoli 1-1-0
Roma 2-2-2
Sampdoria 2-0-0
Udinese 2-0-0
The Italian club that Barça has met the most is AC Milan (10 times), followed by Juventus (8) and Inter Milan (7).
There has only been one previous meeting with Napoli, in the 2019-20 Champions League round of 16, which Barça won 4-2 on aggregate.
Barça’s biggest win against an Italian side was the famous 6-1 demolition of Roma in the 2015-16 Champions League group stage. The biggest defeat was 4-0 to AC Milan in the 1994 Champions League Final in Athens.
In 18 meetings with Italian teams in two-legged knockout ties, Barça have progressed 12 times and their Italian opponents have only been the aggregate victors on six occasions.
The only previous meeting with an Italian club in the UEFA Cup was a 7-0 aggregate defeat of Lazio in 1975-76. This was a curious one, for after losing 4-0 at Camp Nou, Lazio refused to play the second leg in Rome following a series of executions in Spain by the Franco regime and Barça were awarded a 3-0 win.
In 32 games against Italian clubs at Camp Nou, Barça have won 21, drawn five and lost six. Three of those defeats at home have been against Juventus, including the most recent in last season’s Champions League. Fiorentina, Milan and Inter have all won once each at the stadium.
Barça’s last five meetings with Italian teams
2017-18 Champions League Quarter Final
Barça 4-1 Roma / Roma 3-0 Barça
(Roma won on away goals)
2018-19 Champions League Group B
Barça 2-0 Inter / Inter 1-1 Barça
(Barça won the group and Inter came third behind Tottenham)
2019-20 Champions League Group F
Barça 2-1 Inter / Inter 1-2 Barça
(Barça won the group and Inter came third behind Dortmund)
2019-20 Champions League Round of 16
Napoli 1-1 Barça / Barça 3-1 Napoli
(Barça won 4-2 on aggregate)
2020-21 Champions League Group G
Juventus 0-2 Barça / Barça 0-3 Juventus
(Juventus won the group and Barça came second)