Milan vs Napoli facts

Napoli make their UEFA Champions League quarter-final debut against familiar opponents in the shape of reigning Italian champions AC Milan, who are returning to the last eight for the first time since 2012.

Serie A league leaders Napoli have won seven of their eight games in this season's competition, comfortably seeing off UEFA Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt in the round of 16, where a single goal proved enough for Milan to edge past Tottenham.

This is the fourth all-Italian UEFA Champions League tie – Milan having featured in all the first three – and the 15th quarter-final between clubs from the same country, the most recent being Tottenham's thrilling away-goals victory against Manchester City in 2018/19 (1-0 h, 3-4 a).

The winners of this tie will face Benfica or Inter Milan in the semi-final.

Previous meetings

This is the clubs' first meeting in UEFA competition.

Napoli were 2-1 winners in Serie A at San Siro on 18 September 2022. Matteo Politano's 55th-minute penalty opened the scoring for the visitors before Olivier Giroud levelled 14 minutes later, but substitute Giovanni Simeone struck with 12 minutes left to give Napoli victory.

That was the third in a sequence of 11 successive Serie A wins for Napoli, setting a new club record.

Milan turned the tables in style in Naples on 2 April, recording a 4-0 victory thanks to two goals from Rafael Leão (17, 59) and one apiece from Brahim Díaz (25) and substitute Alexis Saelemaekers (67).

That was Napoli's biggest defeat in all competitions since a 5-1 Serie A loss at Atalanta on 2 December 2007 and their biggest home loss since they went down 5-1 against Bologna, also in Serie A, on 22 October 2000.

The last six Serie A games between the clubs have ended in an away win. With the three preceding fixtures ending in a draw, there has not been a home league victory since Napoli's 3-2 success on the opening day of the Serie A season on 25 August 2018.

Overall the teams have met in 171 fixtures, Milan winning 68 and Napoli 51 with 52 draws.

However, Milan's victory on 2 April was only their fourth in their last 18 games against Napoli (D5 L9) with Napoli winning three of the last five fixtures.

Milan did, however, beat Napoli 2-0 at San Siro in the 2018/19 Coppa Italia quarter-finals, making it four wins from four knockout ties against the Partenopei in the domestic cup.

This is the 30th UEFA Champions League knockout tie between clubs from the same country, and the first since Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 in the 2021 final.

Milan have featured in all three of the previous all-Italian contests, beating neighbours Inter on away goals in the 2002/03 semi-finals (0-0 h, 1-1 a) and Juventus in the final (0-0 aet, 3-2 pens). They also overcame Inter 5-0 on aggregate in the 2004/05 quarter-finals (2-0 h, 3-0 a forfeit).

This is the 16th all-Italian tie in UEFA club competition, and the first since Fiorentina's 4-1 aggregate win against Roma in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League round of 16 (1-1 h, 3-0 a).

Form guide

Milan

AC Milan's record in European Cup quarter-finals is W11 L4:
2011/12 Barcelona L 1-3 (0-0 h, 1-3 a)
2006/07 Bayern München W 4-2 (2-2 h, 2-0 a)
2005/06 Lyon W 3-1 (0-0 a 3-1 h)
2004/05 Inter Milan W 5-0 (2-0 h, 3-0 a)
2003/04 Deportivo La Coruña L 4-5 (4-1 h, 0-4 a)
2002/03 Ajax W 3-2 (0-0 a, 3-2 h)
1994/95 Benfica W 2-0 (2-0 h, 0-0 a)
1990/91 Marseille L 1-4 (1-1 h, 0-3 a)
1989/90 Mechelen W 2-0 (0-0 a, 2-0 h)
1988/89 Werder Bremen W 1-0 (0-0 h, 1-0 a)
1968/69 Celtic W 1-0 (0-0 h, 1-0 a)
1963/64 Real Madrid L 3-4 (1-4 a, 2-0 h)
1962/63 Galatasaray W 8-1 (3-1 a, 5-0 h)
1957/58 Borussia Dortmund W 5-2 (1-1 a, 4-1 h)
1955/56 Rapid Wien W 8-3 (1-1 a, 7-2 h)

Although they have not featured in the quarter-finals for 11 years, only seven clubs have made more appearances at this stage of the UEFA Champions League than Milan's eight.

Having ended their seven-year absence from the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2021/22, this is Milan's second successive campaign and 19th overall, four behind the Italian record held by Juventus.

Last season Stefano Pioli's side finished bottom of Group B behind Liverpool, Atlético de Madrid and Porto having collected four points, their sole victory a 1-0 success in Madrid on Matchday 5.

That was the first time Milan had failed to qualify from the initial group stage in a UEFA Champions League campaign since 1999/2000, ending a run of 12 straight successes.

Seven times champions of Europe, most recently in 2007, the Rossoneri have been eliminated in the round of 16 in five of their seven UEFA Champions League campaigns since that triumph.

Milan are the only Italian side to win the UEFA Champions League more than once having triumphed in 1994, 2003 and 2007. They were also beaten finalists in 1993, 1995 and 2005.

Pioli's team responded to last season's early European exit by winning the Serie A title, the club's 19th league championship and a first since 2010/11.

This season, Milan picked up ten points in Group E to finish three behind Chelsea – who beat them 3-0 at Stamford Bridge and 2-0 at San Siro – clinching second place thanks to 4-0 victories in each of their last two games, at Dinamo Zagreb and at home to Salzburg. Those wins equalled the club's biggest margins of victory in the UEFA Champions League.

They then edged past Tottenham in the round of 16, Brahim Díaz's seventh-minute strike in the first leg at San Siro proving to be the only goal of the tie.

Despite beating Dinamo Zagreb twice in this season's group stage and Salzburg once before their first-leg victory against Spurs, Milan have won only six of their last 21 UEFA Champions League games (D6 L9); the defeat of Spurs made it five wins in their last 16 home fixtures, group stage to final (D6 L5), the 3-1 defeat of Dinamo on Matchday 2 having ended a six-game run without a victory (D3 L3).

Milan have won four of their previous nine games against Italian clubs in UEFA competition, losing only one. That sole defeat came against Parma in the second leg of the 1994 UEFA Super Cup (1-0 a, 0-2 h).

That is also Milan's only aggregate defeat in their four two-legged ties against Serie A sides. In addition to their UEFA Champions League wins against Inter in 2003 and 2005, they also beat Sampdoria in the 1990 UEFA Super Cup (1-1 a, 2-0 h).

The Rossoneri also defeated Juventus on penalties in the 2003 UEFA Champions League final at Old Trafford.

Napoli

Napoli are the 54th team to play in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, and the first newcomers since Atalanta and Leipzig in 2020.

Napoli are the seventh Italian club to reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, after fellow 2022/23 quarter-finalists AC Milan and Inter Milan plus Juventus, Roma, Lazio and Atalanta.

Napoli will become the 135th team to play in a European Cup quarter-final, and the eighth from Italy.

Napoli are in the UEFA Champions League proper for the first time in three seasons and the seventh overall – all since 2011/12. In the most recent of their six previous campaigns, in 2019/20, they remained unbeaten in Group E (W3 D3) to finish second behind Liverpool on 12 points, bowing out against Barcelona in the round of 16 (1-1 h, 1-3 a).

This season, the Italian side kicked off with an impressive 4-1 win at home to the 2021/22 runners-up Liverpool before two wins against both Rangers (3-0 a, 3-0 h) and Ajax (6-1 a, 4-2 h). A 2-0 defeat on Merseyside on Matchday 6 ended Napoli's 11-game unbeaten run in UEFA Champions League group games (W8 D3) but was not enough to prevent them finishing top of Group A after they had ended level with Liverpool on 15 points.

Frankfurt were then defeated in Germany (2-0) and Italy (3-0) in the round of 16, Victor Osimhen scoring three goals across the tie.

That loss at Anfield is one of only three in Napoli's last 22 UEFA Champions League fixtures (W12 D7).

Four of the Partenopei's seven UEFA Champions League campaigns have now extended into the knockout rounds, although this is the first time they have made further progress from the round of 16. Only once previously have they topped the group, in 2016/17. This season's haul of 15 points was the club's highest total in the competition, eclipsing the 12 they earned in both 2013/14 and 2019/20.

Napoli's last two European campaigns have ended in the first knockout round of the UEFA Europa League. In 2021/22 they finished second behind Spartak Moskva in their section, collecting ten points from their six matches, but once again their European campaign was ended by Barcelona, this time in the knockout play-offs (1-1 a, 2-4 h).

Luciano Spalletti's side finished third in Serie A in 2021/22, the club's highest finish since ending 2018/19 as runners-up to Juventus.

Before this season's wins at Rangers, Ajax and Frankfurt, Napoli had managed only one victory in their previous 11 away matches in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final (D4 L6), a 3-2 success at Salzburg on Matchday 3 of the 2019/20 competition.

Napoli are the top scorers in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League on 25 goals, two more than Benfica.

This is only Napoli's second European tie against Italian opponents. The first came in the quarter-finals of their victorious UEFA Cup campaign in 1988/89, when they went down 2-0 at Juventus in the first leg but turned the tie round in Naples thanks to goals from Diego Maradona, Andrea Carnevale and, in the 119th minute, Alessandro Renica.

Links and trivia

Napoli defender Juan Jesus made 110 league appearances for Milan's local rivals Inter between 2012 and 2016, scoring once, before signing for Roma.

Matteo Politano also used to call San Siro home, playing 47 times in Serie A for Inter from 2018 to January 2020, when he joined Napoli, initially on loan.

Spalletti coached Milan's Alessandro Florenzi at Roma in 2016/17.

Pioli coached Napoli forward Simeone at Fiorentina between 2017 and 2019.

Have played together:
Mike Maignan & Victor Osimhen (LOSC Lille 2019/20)
Rade Krunić & Piotr Zieliński (Empoli 2015/16)
Ismaël Bennacer, Rade Krunić & Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Empoli 2017–19)

International team-mates:
Sandro Tonali, Davide Calabria, Alessandro Florenzi & Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Alex Meret, Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori, Pierluigi Gollini, Alessio Zerbin (Italy)
Rafael Leão & Mário Rui (Portugal)

AC Milan midfielder Tiémoué Bakayoko, who is not in the club's UEFA Champions League squad, spent 2020/21 on loan at Napoli from Chelsea, scoring two goals in 32 Serie A games.

Latest news

Milan

A 0-0 draw at home to Empoli on Friday made it one victory in Milan's last six games in all competitions (D3 L2).

The Rossoneri had gone four games without a win before a remarkable 4-0 triumph at Napoli on 2 April, Rafael Leão scoring twice and Brahim Díaz and Alexis Saelemaekers once each.

Rafael Leão had not found the net in Serie A since a 2-2 draw against Lecce on 14 January, while it was a first league goal since 22 October for Díaz – who got the round of 16 winner against Tottenham – and Saelemaekers' first in Serie A in 2022/23.

It was Milan's first league victory this season by a four-goal margin and the first time they had scored four goals in a game since a 4-1 victory against Monza on 22 October. They had failed to find the net more than twice in any of their previous 16 games in all competitions in 2023.

Milan were held 1-1 at home by Salernitana on 13 March and went down 3-1 at Udinese five days later.

Zlatan Ibrahimović's penalty at Udinese made him Serie A's oldest goalscorer aged 41 years 166 days; he took the record of another Milan player, Alessandro Costacurta, who scored a penalty in a 3-2 home loss to Udinese aged 41 years 25 days on 19 May 2007.

It was also Ibrahimović's first goal in Serie A since a 3-0 win against Venezia on 9 January 2022, a run of 433 days. The Swedish striker moved level with Roberto Mancini, Luigi Riva and Filippo Inzaghi in joint 21st place in the all-time Serie A scoring chart with 156 goals.

Milan were eliminated in the Coppa Italia round of 16 by a 1-0 home extra-time loss against Torino on 11 January.

A week later the Rossoneri lost 3-0 to Inter in the Italian Super Cup.

The 1-0 win against Torino on 10 February was Milan's 3,000th game in Serie A (W1458, D879, L663). They are only the fourth team to reach that landmark, after Inter, Roma and Juventus.

Rafael Leão started on the bench on Friday due to not being fully fit, coming on for the last 20 minutes.

Pierre Kalulu sat out the win at Napoli and the draw with Empoli due to a calf injury while Junior Messias missed three games with a thigh problem before being an unused replacement on Friday.

On 20 February coach Stefano Pioli won the Panchina d'Oro (Golden Bench) coach of the year award for 2021/22 after leading Milan to the Serie A title.

Rafael Leão missed a penalty then scored to complete Portugal's 6-0 win away to Luxembourg in a UEFA EURO 2024 qualifier on 26 March. Mike Maignan kept clean sheets for France in both of their opening two qualifying wins against the Netherlands (4-0 h) and the Republic of Ireland (1-0 a).

Napoli

Napoli made it eight successive away wins in all competitions with a 2-1 victory at Lecce on Friday, although it ended their run of seven successive away clean sheets.

It was also Napoli's seventh successive away victory in Serie A, a new club record.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo opened the scoring with his second Serie A goal of the season and fourth in all competitions. Napoli's winner came via a second-half own goal.

Napoli were 4-0 winners at Torino on 19 March before losing at home to Milan by the same scoreline on 2 April.

Napoli are still top of Serie A with a 16-point lead and boast the best attack with 66 goals scored in 29 games. However, having previously also had the best defence in the Italian top flight this season, they have now conceded 21 goals – one more than second-placed Lazio.

The 4-0 win at Torino was Napoli's sixth consecutive away clean sheet in Serie A for the first time in their history; all six were won with 15 goals scored.

The defeat against Milan was Napoli's second in their last three home games after a 1-0 loss against Lazio on 3 March. It was also their third defeat in Serie A in 2023.

Napoli's last draw in Serie A was 1-1 at home to Lecce on 31 August; they have won 22 of their subsequent 25 league games, losing the other three.

Before the home defeat against Lazio on 3 March, Napoli had not lost a home game in Serie A since going down 2-3 to Fiorentina on 10 April 2022. The last time they had failed to score at home was a 0-1 defeat against Milan on 6 March 2022.

Tanguy Ndombélé scored his first Serie A goal at Torino; his only other strike for Napoli came at Rangers on UEFA Champions League Matchday 2.

Victor Osimhen added two more goals against Torino. Since returning from an injury on 16 October, the striker has scored 19 goals in 18 Serie A games, failing to find the target in only four matches.

Osimhen has 21 goals in 23 league games this season and has already equalled Samuel Eto'o's record for an African player in Serie A set while playing for Inter in 2010/11. He is also one goal shy of the record of goals in Serie A for an African player, only behind George Weah's total of 46.

Before ending his streak against Lazio, Osimhen had scored in each of his previous eight Serie A games with Napoli, ten goals in total. By finding the net in a 2-0 victory at Empoli on 25 February, he became the first player to score in eight consecutive Serie A games since Cristiano Ronaldo for Juventus between December 2019 and February 2020.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia also found the net against Torino and has scored five times in his last nine Serie A appearances for a total of 12 in Serie A this season.

While Osimhen is Serie A's leading scorer, Kvaratskhelia is the Italian top flight's leading assist provider with ten.

Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen have either scored or assisted 47 of Napoli's 90 goals in all competitions this season.

Kvaratskhelia was named the Player of the Month for March by the Italian Footballers' Association.

Luciano Spalletti's men were knocked out of the Coppa Italia at home in the last 16 by Cremonese on 17 January (2-2, 4-5 pens).

Osimhen has missed Napoli's last two games with a thigh injury.

Giovanni Simeone came on in the second half on Friday but lasted only 17 minutes before having to be replaced himself due to a problem with the muscle behind his right knee.

Bartosz Bereszynski and Mathías Olivera were absent against Milan with a knee and back injury respectively but both were on the bench on Friday, the latter coming on in added time.

On 23 February Napoli coach Spalletti collected the Enzo Bearzot Award, given to the best Italian coach each year.

Eljif Elmas scored his tenth international goal to help North Macedonia to a 2-1 win in their opening UEFA EURO 2024 qualifier at home to Malta on 23 March.