Italian trip holds no fears for Arsenal

A goal to the good from the first leg, Arsenal FC will visit AS Roma hoping to turn the clock back 12 months and use a trip to Italy as a launchpad to the last eight of the UEFA Champions League.

• Arsène Wenger's men travelled to AC Milan in the first knockout round last year following a 0-0 home draw, and departed San Siro with a 2-0 aggregate victory thanks to late goals from Cesc Fàbregas and Emmanuel Adebayor.

• That win is not the only source of confidence for the Premier League club given it was one of three successes in their last four visits to Italy – including a 3-1 triumph against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in 2002/03.

• Arsenal gained a 1-0 victory in the first leg on 24 February through a 37th-minute penalty by Robin van Persie.

• Only once before have the Gunners surrendered the advantage in a two-legged UEFA club competition tie after winning the first game at home – that was against Valencia CF in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

• Trailing 1-0, Roma fans can be forgiven for preferring to avoid the history books ahead of the decider given Luciano Spalletti's side saw their UEFA Champions League hopes founder against English opposition in the two previous campaigns with successive quarter-final losses to Manchester United FC.

• Down the years, Roma have bounced back from a first-leg away defeat in UEFA competitions only six times in 16 attempts.

• The Giallorossi's most famous comeback was in the semi-finals of the 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup when they retrieved a 2-0 deficit against Scotland's Dundee United FC with a 3-0 triumph in Rome. Their reward was a place in that season's final at their home stadium – coincidentally the venue again for this term's showpiece.

• Trailing 1-0, Roma fans can be forgiven for preferring to avoid the history books ahead of this tie given Luciano Spalletti's side saw their UEFA Champions League hopes founder against English opposition in the two previous campaigns with successive quarter-final losses to Manchester United FC.

• The Giallorossi can draw some encouragement from having won their most recent home fixture against Premier League opposition – the 3-1 group-stage defeat of Chelsea at the Stadio Olimpico on 4 November courtesy of goals from Christian Panucci and Mirko Vučinić (2).

• Overall, Roma's 12 previous home encounters against English opponents have produced six wins, three draws and three defeats. This does not include their 1984 European Champion Clubs' Cup final against Liverpool FC at the Stadio Olimpico, which the Giallorossi lost on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

• They won their first three two-legged ties against teams from England but have now lost their last five.

• Arsenal ran out 3-1 winners in the sides' only previous encounter in the Italian capital in their opening fixture of the 2002/03 second group stage. Roma took a fourth-minute lead through Antonio Cassano only for the London club to hit back through a Thierry Henry hat-trick. The teams later drew 1-1 at Highbury yet ultimately neither managed to make it through to the last eight.

• The full lineups for that fixture on 27 November 2002 were:
Roma: Francesco Antonioli, Cafu, Jonathan Zebina, Walter Samuel, Christian Panucci, Vincent Candela, Emerson, Francisco Lima (Gabriel Batistuta), Antonio Cassano (Vincenzo Montella), Francesco Totti, Marco Delvecchio (Gianni Guigou).
Arsenal: Rami Shaaban, Oleh Luzhny, Sol Campbell, Pascal Cygan, Ashley Cole, Robert Pirès (Giovanni van Bronckhorst), Patrick Vieira, Gilberto, Fredrik Ljungberg (Edu), Sylvain Wiltord (Martin Keown), Thierry Henry.

• The London club's away record against Italian opposition is W4 D4 L3. Since that aforementioned victory in Rome, they have beaten FC Internazionale Milano 5-1 in the 2003/04 group stage, held Juventus 0-0 in the 2005/06 quarter-finals and then won at Milan last term.

• Given their impressive away record in Italy, it is little surprise Arsenal have recorded five victories in six previous two-legged encounters against Serie A sides.

• The Gunners' most famous victory against an Italian outfit came when they defeated FC Parma 1-0 in the final of the 1993/94 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. However, they lost the following season's UEFA Super Cup 2-0 on aggregate to Milan.

• Roma are seeking a fourth quarter-final appearance – and third in succession – in Europe's élite club competition. Arsenal have reached the last eight five times previously.

• Roma recorded two wins and one defeat at home in the group stage. For their part, Arsenal registered one win, one draw and one defeat on their travels.

• As coach of AS Monaco FC, Wenger got the better of Roma in the quarter-finals of the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, his team prevailing 1-0 at home after a stalemate in the Italian capital. Monaco went on to reach the final where they lost to Werder Bremen.

• That was Wenger's only success against Serie A opposition during his time at Monaco, with whom he suffered semi-final defeats against UC Sampdoria in the 1989/90 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and Milan in the 1993/94 UEFA Champions League.

• Arsenal defender Mikaël Silvestre was in the Manchester United side that defeated Roma 1-0 in the second leg of their 2007/08 quarter-final at Old Trafford.

• Roma's Norway left-back John Arne Riise appeared as a late substitute in Liverpool's 4-2 defeat of Arsenal in last season's UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

• Overall Riise spent seven seasons with the Merseyside club prior to moving to Rome last summer. He made 17 appearances and scored two goals against Arsenal, with Liverpool winning four of those games and losing eight.

• Another Roma defender, Philippe Mexès, played against Arsenal for AJ Auxerre in the first group stage of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League, helping his side win 2-1 in London, although Wenger's team had won the earlier meeting in France 1-0.

• Simone Perrotta was born to Italian parents in the Lancashire town of Ashton-under-Lyne, the birthplace of England's 1966 FIFA World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst.

• Roma's long-serving forward Vincenzo Montella scored five goals for Fulham during a loan spell with the London club in the second half of 2006/07.

• Roma have won one and lost two of three previous penalty shoot-outs in UEFA club competition:
4-2 v IFK Norrköping, 1982/83 UEFA Cup second round
2-4 v Liverpool, 1983/84 European Cup final
3-4 v Real Zaragoza, 1986/87 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round

• Arsenal have an identical record in penalty deciders in Europe:
4-5 v Valencia CF, 1979/80 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final
3-2 v Sampdoria, 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final
1-4 v Galatasaray SK, 1999/00 UEFA Cup final

• The draw for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 20 March.