Internazionale v Barcelona facts

Internazionale will qualify for the round of 16 with a win on Matchday 6, although that might be easier said than done against a Barcelona side who yet again have won their UEFA Champions League section and have not lost a group stage fixture for over three years.

• The Italian side are level with Borussia Dortmund on seven points but hold the head-to-head advantage, so will qualify for the round of 16 if they beat Barcelona, or as long as they finish at least level on points with Dortmund, whose final group fixture is at home to Slavia Praha.

• Barcelona secured first place in their group for the 21st time, and a 13th season in a row – both competition records – with a home win against Dortmund on Matchday 5. They have 11 points, and beat Inter 2-1 at the Camp Nou on Matchday 2, Luis Suárez scoring twice in the second half (58, 84) after Lautaro Martínez had given Inter a third-minute lead.

Previous meetings
• The sides also met on Matchday 4 last season, an 87th-minute Mauro Icardi goal earning Inter a 1-1 draw at San Siro four minutes after Malcom had put Barça in front.

• A goal in each half from Rafinha (32) and Jordi Alba (83) had given Barcelona a 2-0 victory at the Camp Nou two weeks earlier; this season's home result made it five wins from five against Inter at the Camp Nou, with ten goals scored and only that Martínez strike on Matchday 2 conceded.

• Perhaps surprisingly for two clubs with such rich European history, the teams have played only six other matches – those too in the UEFA Champions League, and all since 2003.

• They first met in the 2002/03 second group stage, Barcelona winning 3-0 in Spain before a goalless draw in Milan. The Spanish side finished first in Group A with Inter second, but were eliminated in the quarter-finals, while the Nerazzurri lost to neighbours AC Milan in the last four.

• Their next four fixtures all came in the 2009/10 edition, the first of them, in Milan, again finishing scoreless. A 2-0 victory in Spain followed for a Barcelona side coached by Josep Guardiola, Gerard Piqué scoring the first goal.

• Both again progressed to the knockout rounds and were reunited in the semi-finals, when Inter won the first leg 3-1 at San Siro. Despite a 1-0 defeat at the Camp Nou – via another Piqué goal – José Mourinho's Inter held on to reach the final, where they beat Bayern München to claim the club's third European title.

Form guide
Inter
• Inter needed a late Nicolò Barella goal two minutes into added time to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to Slavia Praha on Matchday 1 before the loss at Barcelona that made it four European fixtures without a win (D2 L2), with only two goals scored in that sequence. Antonio Conte's side have won two of their last three matches, however, at home to Dortmund (2-0) and away to Slavia on Matchday 5 (3-1) either side of a 3-2 reverse in Germany, a game in which they had led 2-0 at half-time.

• Inter have nevertheless won only two of their last nine UEFA Champions League matches (D3 L4).

• Fourth in Serie A in 2018/19, Inter are the last Italian team to win the UEFA Champions League, in 2010 – their third European Cup triumph, and first in 45 years.

• This is the 13th time Inter have been in the group stage – last season was their first appearance since 2011/12.

• In 2018/19 Inter won their first two fixtures, against Tottenham and PSV Eindhoven, but picked up only two more points to lose out to Spurs on head-to-head record and finished third in Group B, which was won by Barcelona. Moving into the UEFA Europa League, they knocked out Rapid Wien in the round of 32 (1-0 a, 4-0 h) but lost 1-0 in the home second leg, and on aggregate, against Eintracht Frankfurt in the last 16.

• That defeat by Eintracht is Inter's sole loss in their last nine European home matches (W5 D3).

• The Nerazzurri are unbeaten in their last nine games against Liga opposition at San Siro (W3 D6) stretching back to a 2-0 loss to Alavés in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup fourth round. That is their sole defeat at home to a Spanish club in 19 fixtures (W9 D9).

• Home and away, that win against Barcelona in the 2009/10 semi-final first leg is Inter's sole success in their last 11 matches against Spanish clubs (D4 L6).

• Last season was the first time in nine UEFA Champions League campaigns Inter had failed to progress from their group.

Barcelona
• Barcelona have picked up four points away from home in this season's group stage, drawing 0-0 at Dortmund on Matchday 1 before a 2-1 win at Slavia in their third fixture. At home they have beaten Inter and, last time out, Dortmund (3-1) and were held 0-0 by Slavia.

• Barça have won only five of their last 15 away matches in European competition (D6 L4).

• The Blaugrana's record away to Serie A clubs is W6 D11 L7. They are without a win in their last eight trips to Italy (D5 L3), since a 3-2 win at San Siro against AC Milan in the 2011/12 group stage.

• Spanish champions for the 26th time in 2018/19, their fourth title in five years, this is Barcelona's 24th UEFA Champions League group campaign, a competition record they share with Real Madrid. They last failed to qualify from their group in 2000/01 and have now reached the round of 16 or better for the last 16 seasons, winning their group every year from 2007/08 onwards.

• In 2018/19, Barcelona finished first ahead of Tottenham, Inter and PSV Eindhoven in Group B, picking up 14 points – seven of them away. They eased past Lyon in the last 16 (0-0 a, 5-1 h) and Manchester United in the quarter-finals (1-0 a, 3-0 h) before a 3-0 first-leg victory against Liverpool in the last four, only for the English club to turn the tables in stunning style at Anfield (0-4).

• Defeat on Merseyside ended Barcelona's 11-match unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League (W8 D3). They have lost only two of their last 28 UEFA Champions League fixtures (W17 D9) and are unbeaten in 19 group stage matches (W13 D6) since a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City on Matchday 4 in 2016/17.

• Should Barça avoid defeat at Inter, it will extend their record of unbeaten UEFA Champions League group stage campaigns to 13 – and will be their third in a row.

• Barcelona's next UEFA Champions League win will be their 150th; only Real Madrid have reached that landmark in the competition so far.

• Barcelona have been European champions on five occasions, most recently in 2015.

Links and trivia
• Alexis Sánchez scored 39 goals in 88 Liga games for Barcelona between 2011 and 2014, winning the Copa del Rey in 2011/12 and the Liga title the following season. He came on as a second-half substitute in Barcelona's 2-0 victory against Porto in the 2011 UEFA Super Cup.

• Have also played in Spain:
Diego Godín (Villarreal 2007–10, Atlético Madrid 2010–19)
Borja Valero (Real Madrid 2005–07, Mallorca 2007/08 & 2009/10, Villarreal 2010–12)

• Have also played in Italy:
Arturo Vidal (Juventus 2011–15)
Neto (Fiorentina 2011–15, Juventus 2015–17)

• Antoine Griezmann scored in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final as France defeated Marcelo Brozović's Croatia 4-2. Samuel Umtiti was also in the France side with Ivan Rakitić featuring for Croatia.

• Conte's Italy defeated a Spain side including Piqué, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets 2-0 in the UEFA EURO 2016 round of 16.

• Have played together:
Diego Godín & Antoine Griezmann (Atlético 2014–19)
Borja Valero & Neto (Fiorentina 2012–15)
Kwadwo Asamoah & Arturo Vidal (Juventus 2012–15)
Kwadwo Asamoah & Neto (Juventus 2015–17)

• International team-mates:
Lautaro Martínez & Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Marcelo Brozović & Ivan Rakitić (Croatia)
Diego Godín, Matías Vecino & Luis Suárez (Uruguay)
Stefan de Vrij & Frenkie de Jong (Netherlands)

• Brozović featured in Croatia's 6-0 loss to a Spain side including Sergio Busquets in the UEFA Nations League on 11 September 2018.

Latest news

Inter
• Aged 17 years 113 days, Sebastiano Esposito became Inter's youngest ever UEFA Champions League player on Matchday 3, and the youngest to feature for the club in the European Cup since Giuseppe Bergomi, who was 17 years 93 days when he made his bow against Crvena zvezda in 1980/81.

• Inter failed to score for the first time this season in their 20th match in all competitions on Friday as they were held 0-0 at home by Roma.

• On 1 December Inter had defeated SPAL 2-1 to go top of Serie A. Juventus's 3-1 defeat at Lazio on Saturday meant that the draw against Roma increased Inter's lead to two points.

• Inter won 12 of their first 14 Serie A games for the first time ever.

• Lautaro Martínez scored both goals against SPAL and has five in his last four games for Inter; ten of his 13 club goals this season have come in the first 30 minutes of matches.

• Romelu Lukaku scored his tenth league goal for Inter in his 13th match; the last player to hit that mark by the same stage of his first season with the club was Stefano Nyers in 1948/49.

• Inter had scored two or more goals in ten successive games in all competitions before drawing a blank against Roma.

• Antonio Conte is the first coach in Inter history whose team scored in all of his first 19 games in charge; the previous record was 12.

• Inter had won five consecutive Serie A matches, four of them by a 2-1 scoreline, before being held by Roma.

• Antonio Candreva had to be replaced late in the first half against Roma.

• Nicolò Barella is not expected to play again this year after undergoing knee surgery on 27 November.

• Alexis Sánchez suffered an ankle injury on international duty with Chile in October and has undergone surgery that is expected to keep him out until the new year.

• Matteo Politano (twisted left ankle) has been out since Matchday 4 although he was an unused substitute against Roma on Friday, when Kwadwo Asamoah (knee) came on as a substitute for his first appearance since 29 October.

• Stefano Sensi has not played since suffering a thigh injury on 20 October. Fellow midfielder Roberto Gagliardini was out between 2 and 27 November with a thigh injury and is sidelined again after suffering a foot injury in training.

• Samir Handanovič was voted best goalkeeper of the 2018/19 Serie A season for the third time at the Gran Gala del Calcio on 2 December when Barella, a Cagliari player last term, was named in the team of the season.

Barcelona
• Barcelona have won their last five matches in all competitions, defeating Mallorca 5-2 at the Camp Nou on Saturday; the 3-1 reverse at Levante on 2 November is their only defeat in 14 games (W12 D1).

• Lionel Messi hit a hat-trick against Mallorca and has scored 14 goals in his last 11 Barcelona appearances. The treble on Saturday was his 35th in the Liga, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo's 34 for Real Madrid to set a new competition record.

• Messi won a record sixth Ballon d'Or on 2 December. He was also named Forward of the Season for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League in Monaco on 29 August; Frenkie de Jong collected the Midfielder's award for his performances with Ajax last season.

• Antoine Griezmann ended a run of five league games without a goal by opening the scoring against Mallorca.

• Luis Suárez also found the net on Saturday, and has four goals in his last five appearances for club and country. He had never previously scored against Mallorca, but has now struck against all 28 teams he has played in the Liga.

• Barça's last eight defeats in all competitions have come away from the Camp Nou.

• Ousmane Dembélé is expected to be out for up to ten weeks after sustaining a thigh injury on Matchday 5.

• Gerard Piqué limped off with a knee injury late on during a 1-0 victory at Atlético Madrid on 30 November, but played 90 minutes on Saturday.

• Nélson Semedo has been out of action since being substituted early on in a 4-1 victory against Celta on 9 November due to a calf injury.

• Jordi Alba has not played since being withdrawn at half-time on Matchday 4 with a hamstring problem.

• Ansu Fati became the second youngest player to appear for Barça in the Liga when he made his debut aged 16 years 298 days in a 5-2 victory against Real Betis on 25 August. Six days later, the teenager then became the club's youngest Liga goalscorer, aged 16 years 304 days, in a 2-2 draw with Osasuna that made him the third youngest Liga goalscorer of all time.