Barça kick off the Champions League campaign with a tough match against Inter Milan in the Giuseppe Meazza.The return of Ibra to his former club and the re-encounter with Eto’o are two of the main talking points.
Barça begin the defence of their European crown on Wednesday in the stadium of one of the favourites to lift this season’s trophy, Inter Milan. The two sides are amongst the most in-form in Europe. Barça have won the last five competitions they’ve taken part in and started the domestic campaign with two wins out of two. Inter, meanwhile, are unbeaten in three games in the Serie A.
Old friends
There are plenty of individual re-encounters to add spice to the match. Zlatan Ibrahimovic goes back to the stadium where he conquered the last three Italian league titles, as does Maxwell, while Barça will face Samuel Eto’o for the first time since his move to Inter in the summer. Former Barça stars Thiago Motta and Ricardo Quaresma are also vital members of José Mourinho ’s squad (former Barça assistant coach).
Márquez returns
Pep Guardiola has named all 19 available players, including Chigrinskiy, who is ineligible having already taken part in the qualifying phase with Shakhtar Donetsk. Rafa Márquez returns to the squad after recovering from the injury he picked up on the tour of the USA and which has prevented him from playing so far this season. His return comes at opportune moment for Barça as the fixtures intensify. However, the injured Bojan and Milito are excluded.
Previous matches
Inter and Barça last met in Italy in the 2002/03 season in the second group stage of the Champions League. Barça strolled to a 3-0 win in the Camp Nou and then earned a valuable draw (0-0) in the Giuseppe Meazza. Many years earlier, in the 60s, both teams won a leg apiece of their Fairs Cup tie.
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