Barça vs Inter Milan without Messi? It's happened before

With Leo Messi having been ruled out of Wednesday’s game against Inter Milan at Camp Nou in the wake of a fractured arm which he suffered in Saturday’s victory over Sevilla, Barça can take solace in the fact that this won’t be the first time the Catalans are going to host the Italians without the Argentinian maestro.

In fact, the last time this scenario presented itself, Barça came out on top in a 2-0 victory over Inter in game which saw the return of Samuel Eto’o to Camp Nou. Pep Guardiola was the Barça manager at the time and Barça, in a must-win situation after having won only one of its three group stage matches heading into the Inter clash, were forced to tackle the pivotal duel without their superstar.

But Gerard Piqué put Barça ahead in the 10th minute of play, and Pedro Rodríguez doubled the lead in the 26th, giving the blaugranes all the goals they’d need to pick up the three points.

Now, while that may have been the only Inter match Messi would miss, until now, there have been plenty of other clashes between the European giants over the last six decades:

1958–60 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – Quarter finals
7/5/59 Barça 4 (E. Martínez, Ribelles, Villaverde, Segarra) Inter 0
30/8/59 Inter 2 Barça 4 (E. Martínez, Kubala)
Barça won 8-2 on aggregate and went on to win the trophy, beating Birmingham City in the final

1962 End-of-season Friendly in Milan
11/04/62 Inter 1 Barça 0

1965 Preseason friendly at Camp Nou
25/08/65 Barça 4 (Pereda 2, Re, Seminario) Inter 1

1967 Preseason friendly in Bologna
5/09/67 Inter 3 Barça 1 (Rexach)

1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup round of 16
14/1/70 Barça 1 (Fusté) Inter 2
4/2/70 Inter 1 Barça 1 (Rexach)
Inter won 3-2 on aggregate and went on to reach the semi-finals, losing to Anderlecht

1987 Mundialito de Clubs in Milan
23/6/87 Inter 3 Barça 1 (Hughes)
The last of four editions of an unofficial summer tournament played in Italy in the eighties. Barça finished fourth in the five-team group, Inter third and AC Milan were winners.

1996 Joan Gamper Trophy at Montjuic, Barcelona
21/8/96 Barça 2 (Guardiola, Pizzi) Inter 1

2002-03 Champions League 2nd group stage
18/2/03 Barça 3 (Saviola, Cocu, Kluivert) Inter 0
26/2/03 Inter 0 Barça 0
Barça topped the group without losing a match and Inter qualified in second place. Barça then lost to Juventus in the quarter finals, and Inter went out to AC Milan in the semi-finals (on away goals despite the fact that they both play in the same stadium!)

2007 Joan Gamper Trophy at Camp Nou
29/8/07 Barça 5 (Ronaldinho (pen), Giovani, Tourè, Iniesta, Motta) Inter 0

2009–10 Champions League Group F
16/9/09 Inter 0 Barça 0
24/11/09 Barça 2 (Piqué, Pedro) Inter 0
Barça topped the group with 11 points and Inter qualified in second place with 9. Barça went on to beat Stuttgart and Arsenal, while Inter beat Chelsea and CSKA Moscow and the two team met again the semi-finals of the same competition.

2009–10 Champions League Semi-Finals
20/4/10 Inter 3 Barça 1 (Pedro)
28/4/10 Barça 1 (Piqué) Inter 0
Inter won 3-2 on aggregate and went on to win the title for the first time in 45 years, beating Bayern Munich in the final.