FC Barcelona vs AC Milan Tickets

As of 2023, these two teams had collected a total of 12 European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles between them, which goes some way to show their mutual dominance among the continent’s elite.

It took FC Barcelona a while to register their first top-tier UEFA title, doing so in 1992 with a close-fought win over Sampdoria at Wembley, sealed via a quality free-kick from Ronald Koeman.

Prior to this, the Camp Nou side had lost two finals. In 1961 at the hands of Benfica, and in 1986, when Terry Venables’ side lost on penalties to Steaua Bucharest.

That success in 1992 should have been a springboard to bigger and better things, but that didn’t really work out. Johan Cruyff’s talented side were a class above in La Liga during the late 80s and early 1990s, but they couldn’t quite control Europe the way they did so in Spain.

The manner in which they lost their next final, going down to AC Milan 4-0 in 1994, is perhaps tangible evidence of this. It would take another decade for the Catalan side to win the competition, with Frank Rijkaard’s side defeating Arsenal in Paris in 2006, a game that proved quite a hard slog given that Arsene Wenger’s side were down to ten men after less than 20 minutes and were actually ahead for most of the contest.

The emergence of a top talent named Lionel Messi would ultimately usher in the club’s first extended period of supremacy. The Argentine played a key role in Pep Guardiola’s successful side that won the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United, with the legendary attacker netting in the 2-0 win in Rome.

Two years later, he netted again as part of a 3-1 victory against the same opponents in the final in 2011, this time back at Wembley Stadium, the scene of their first triumph. Luis Enrique took Barca to their fifth title in 2015, with the club’s star-studded frontline of Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez striking fear into the hearts of defenders across Europe.

AC Milan’s first success in the competition came in 1963 when the Rossoneri beat Benfica at Wembley Stadium. Six years later, they won the trophy again by beating Ajax in Madrid. Arguably AC Milan’s zenith in the competition came across the late 1980s and early 90s, when the club was seemingly unstoppable. In 1989 both Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten scored twice in a comfortable 4-0 win over Steaua Bucharest in Barcelona.

The following year Arrigo Sacchi’s side made it back-to-back successes with a narrow win over Benfica in Vienna, Rijkaard scoring the only goal of the game. In the inaugural UEFA Champions League AC Milan, now managed by Fabio Capello, the Italian side were surprise losers to Marseille, with Basile Boli scoring the game’s only game, but the Serie A side came back with a bang.

In 1993/94, AC Milan marched to the final in imperious fashion, conceding just two goals across 11 games before coming up against Barcelona in Athens, a game that lives long in the memory of fans of both teams for very different reasons. Capello’s side absolutely annihilated their opponents and were four goals up in under an hour, this despite the fact that AC Milan were without injured Dutch goal machine Marco van Basten and injured starlet Gianluigi Lentini, who was the most expensive player in the world at the time.

Similar to the way in which Barcelona were brought down to earth by the defeat by AC Milan, so were the Italian side when they lost to Ajax the following season, and again, as with their La Liga opponents, they took quite a while to get back on track.

In 2002/03, they collected their next crown, defeating Juventus on penalties after an instantly forgettable goalless draw. Then, in 2005, they suffered their most infamous UEFA Champions League defeat.

Under Carlo Ancelotti, AC Milan were very much considered the favourites for their clash with Liverpool in Istanbul, and by half-time, they were three goals up and cruising. Then, the unthinkable occurred. Rafa Benitez’s side mounted a comeback for the ages, scoring three goals in the first 16 minutes of the second half.

Despite this, AC Milan had a number of chances to grab a winner but were denied by keeper Jerzy Dudek on a number of occasions. The game went to penalties, and Liverpool’s nerve held, and the Premier League side triumphed in extraordinary circumstances.

Fortunately for AC Milan and Ancelotti, revenge was served swiftly when they beat Liverpool in the 2007 final. 2-1. There then followed a period of relative failure though in 2022/23, they did make it through to the Semi-Finals of the competition, only to suffer the agony of defeat to rivals Inter.

FC Barcelona vs AC Milan Head-to-Head

These two teams have met on countless occasions in competitive European action, with the first coming back in 1959 when Barcelona thrashed AC Milan 7-1 on aggregate in the First Round of the European Cup.

Their next meeting was the aforementioned 1994 European Cup Final, when AC Milan comprehensively dismantled Cruyff’s side. In 2001 the two sides met in the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League, with Milan impressing in a 2-0 win at Camp Nou before the two teams played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at the San Siro, with Rivaldo scoring a memorable hat-trick.

Barcelona knocked out AC Milan in the 2005/06 Semi-Finals, with Ludovic Giuly scoring the only goal over the course of the two legs. In 2011/12, the two teams met on no less than four occasions.

In the group phase, the pair drew 2-2 in Barcelona before the La Liga side won 3-2 in Milan before they were drawn together in the Quarter-Finals. Lionel Messi scored two penalties in the crucial 3-1 home win that completed an aggregate success for Pep Guardiola’s side

In 2012/13, AC Milan won the first leg of their Round of 16 encounter 2-0 and would have felt confident ahead of the return leg. Unfortunately for them, Lionel Messi had an astonishing game, scoring twice in a 4-0 victory.

FC Barcelona vs AC Milan Connections

A large number of top talents have worn the colours of both Barcelona and AC Milan, including Edgar Davids, Christophe Dugarry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Patrick Kluivert, Gerard Deulofeu, Franck Kessie, Bojan Krkic, and Michael Reiziger.

But perhaps the two players who achieved the most success with the two clubs are Brazilian stars Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.

Playmaker Ronaldinho moved to Camp Nou from Paris Saint-Germain in 2003 and spent five years in Barcelona, scoring 94 goals in 207 games before moving to AC Milan, where he played for three seasons.

He won league titles with both teams and the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona in 2006.

Renowned finisher Ronaldo moved to Barcelona in 1996, having impressed at PSV Eindhoven and stayed for just one season, but boy, what a season.

Ronaldo bagged an astonishing 47 goals in 49 games, the best season of his career, helping Sir Bobby Robson’s side to three cup triumphs but only a second-place finish in La Liga. He left to join Inter Milan and then Real Madrid before playing for AC Milan between 2006 and 2008, scoring nine goals in 21 appearances.