Milan on revenge mission against Barcelona

AC Milan will not be lacking motivation when they host FC Barcelona on matchday three – this fixture offers not just an opportunity to leapfrog the Spanish champions at the top of Group H but also a chance of revenge.

• The Rossoneri have a recent history of UEFA Champions League disappointments against Barcelona to make amends for, with the Blaugrana's victory in last season's round of 16 completing an unwanted hat-trick alongside their 2011/12 quarter-final and 2005/06 semi-final defeats.

Previous meetings
• These two famous names have squared off 17 times, Barcelona recording seven wins to Milan's five and scoring 26 goals to the Italian side's 21. Milan's record in eight home outings against Barcelona reads W3 D2 L3.

• Massimiliano Allegri's Milan won 2-0 at San Siro in the first leg of last season's last-16 encounter, Kevin-Prince Boateng (57) and Sulley Muntari (81) the scorers. Barcelona hit back, however, with four unanswered goals at the Camp Nou, Lionel Messi (5, 40), David Villa (55) and Jordi Alba (90) securing a 4-2 aggregate success.

• Jordi Roura was in charge of Barcelona for that last San Siro meeting on 20 February and the lineups were:
Milan: Abbiati, Abate, Mexès, Zapata, Constant, Ambrosini, Montolivo, Muntari, Boateng, Pazzini (Niang 75), El Shaarawy (Traoré 88).
Barcelona: Valdés, Daniel Alves, Piqué, Puyol (Mascherano 88), Jordi Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Fàbregas (Sánchez 62), Pedro, Messi, Iniesta.

• Barcelona earned a goalless draw at Milan in the first leg of their 2011/12 quarter-final before prevailing 3-1 in the return. Messi hit two first-half penalties, either side of an Antonio Nocerino equaliser (32), with Andrés Iniesta (53) cementing victory for Josep Guardiola's side.

• The clubs also met in that season's group stage, with Barcelona taking four points to consign Milan to second place. At the Camp Nou it finished 2-2, Thiago Silva (92) scoring Milan's equaliser after Pedro Rodríguez and Villa had overturned Pato's first-minute goal.

• Barcelona subsequently won 3-2 in Milan, Xavi Hernández hitting a 63rd-minute winner after Zlatan Ibrahimović and Boateng had cancelled out Mark van Bommel's own goal and Messi's penalty respectively.

• Frank Rijkaard's Barcelona were 1-0 aggregate winners against Carlo Ancelotti's Milan in the 2005/06 semi-finals, Ludovic Giuly's strike at San Siro proving decisive in a first leg featuring Víctor Valdés, Carles Puyol and Iniesta for Barcelona.

• Valdés, Puyol, Xavi and Iniesta are survivors of the clubs' encounter in the 2004/05 group stage when Barcelona lost 1-0 at San Siro on 20 October 2004 and ended up second behind Milan in a group also containing Celtic FC.

• The clubs' most high-profile encounter was the 1994 UEFA Champions League final, Fabio Capello's Milan winning 4-0 with goals from Daniele Massaro (22, 45), Dejan Savićević (47) and Marcel Desailly (58). Milan also prevailed when the pair met in the 1989 UEFA Super Cup, winning 1-0 at home after a 1-1 away draw.

• Barcelona won the sides' first two-legged contest 7-1 on aggregate in the first round of the 1959/60 European Champion Clubs' Cup.

Match background
• Gerardo Martino's Barcelona have maximum points at the Group H summit and know a third straight victory would open up a five-point advantage at the top.

• Barcelona won at Celtic on matchday two with a 76th-minute Cesc Fàbregas goal but Milan have left it even later in their games – they saw off Celtic with two goals in the last eight minutes and then needed Mario Balotelli's added-time penalty equaliser at AFC Ajax.

• Milan's 2-0 success over Barcelona at San Siro in February was their first home win in seven attempts against Liga opposition. Their overall record against visitors from Spain is W11 D6 L6.

• Barcelona's away record against Serie A teams is W6 D7 L6.

• Barcelona won their first European Cup by beating UC Sampdoria 1-0 in the final at Wembley in 1992.

• Milan lost their first European Cup final 3-2 to Real Madrid CF in 1957/58.

Team ties
• Neymar scored for Brazil in a 4-2 win over an Italy side including Ignazio Abate, Mattia De Sciglio, Riccardo Montolivo, Stephan El Shaarawy and Balotelli in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup group stage.

• Only Montolivo played when Italy then faced Spain in a goalless semi-final. Montolivo scored his spot kick in the ensuing shoot-out but Xavi, Iniesta, Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets all converted theirs too as Spain won 7-6. Jordi Alba and Pedro also featured for the world champions.

• Abate, Montolivo and Balotelli played in Italy's 4-0 defeat by Spain in the UEFA EURO 2012 final. Alba was among the scorers for a Spain side also featuring Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Fàbregas, and second-half substitute Pedro.

• Fàbregas had earlier scored in the countries' 1-1 group stage draw where the only Milan representative was Nocerino.

• Fàbregas hit the winning penalty when Spain overcame Italy in the UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-finals and struck Arsenal FC's opener in a 2-0 victory at Milan in the second leg of the 2007/08 round of 16, securing an identical aggregate success.

• Iniesta scored the extra-time winner as Spain overcame a Netherlands side featuring Nigel de Jong in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

• Christian Abbiati (Club Atlético de Madrid), Cristián Zapata (Villarreal CF), Kaká and Robinho (Real Madrid) have all had spells in Spanish football.

• Alexis Sánchez scored in Udinese Calcio's 4-4 draw at Milan in 2010/11. That was his solitary goal in seven league and cup meetings with Milan for Udinese.

• Javier Mascherano was in the Liverpool FC team beaten 2-1 by Milan in the 2007 UEFA Champions League final.