Barcelona threatened by old boys' return

FC Internazionale Milano will seek to strengthen their position at the top of UEFA Champions League Group F when they take on holders FC Barcelona in arguably the most eagerly anticipated of all the Matchday 5 fixtures.

• An exciting climax is unfolding in the tournament's most tightly congested section where only two points separate leaders Inter from bottom-placed FC Dynamo Kyiv.

• Inter ended an eight-match winless run in the competition with a last-gasp victory at FC Dynamo Kyiv on Matchday 4 and they can book a place in the last 16 by beating Barcelona.

• Barcelona had qualification sewn up by this stage last season but they enter this contest third in the section after taking just one point from their double-header with FC Rubin Kazan.

• If Barcelona lose and Rubin beat Dynamo Kyiv, the defending champions will be eliminated. However, they have never lost two successive home games in Europe.

• This match marks Samuel Eto'o's first match back at the Camp Nou since his summer departure in the deal that took Zlatan Ibrahimović to Spain. The game also brings José Mourinho back to the club he once served as an assistant coach.

Previous meetings
• Barcelona were 3-0 winners when the sides first met in UEFA competition in a UEFA Champions League second group-stage match at the Camp Nou on 26 February 2002. Goals from Javier Saviola, Phillip Cocu and Patrick Kluivert earned them an eleventh successive victory, still a competition record.

• Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández and Thiago Motta, now an Inter player, lined up for Barcelona that night while Inter's side included Francesco Toldo, Iván Córdoba and Javier Zanetti.

• The return the following week produced a goalless draw and both teams progressed to the quarter-finals, Barcelona as group winners. Yet Inter went further that season, reaching the last four.

Match background
• The holders' last meeting with Italian visitors at the Camp Nou brought a goalless draw with Inter's neighbours AC Milan in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League semi-final, a result that secured a 1-0 aggregate success.

• Barcelona lifted the European Champion Clubs' Cup for the first time after beating Italy's UC Sampdoria 1-0 in the 1992 final at Wembley. They lost the 1994 final 4-0 to Milan.

• Inter last visited Spain for a UEFA Champions League first knockout round tie at Valencia CF in March 2007 and returned home eliminated on away goals after a 0-0 draw. Inter's Córdoba, Julio Cruz, Maicon and the now departed Nicolás Burdisso all collected bans following incidents at the end of the match.

• Inter's most recent away win against Spanish Liga opposition was their most emphatic – 5-1 at Valencia in the 2004/05 group stage. Esteban Cambiasso, Córdoba, Marco Materazzi and Dejan Stanković all featured with the latter opening the scoring.

Team ties
• Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola appeared for the Catalan club in their 1992 final victory against Sampdoria in 1992 but also in the 4-0 drubbing against Milan two years later. He later played in Serie A for AS Roma and Brescia Calcio.

• During his three-year spell at Inter, Ibrahimović hit 57 goals in 88 Serie A appearances and six in 22 UEFA Champions League games.

• Thierry Henry scored twice for Arsenal FC in a 5-1 win at Inter in the 2003/04 group stage. The France forward suffered a UEFA Cup semi-final defeat at Inter's hands when playing for AS Monaco FC in 1996/97.

• Henry played alongside Inter midfielder Patrick Vieira for six years at Arsenal and the pair are also team-mates in the France national team.

• Maxwell made 79 Serie A appearances in three seasons with Inter before moving to the Camp Nou in the summer.

• Mourinho served as an assistant to the late Sir Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal at Barcelona from 1996-2000.

• As Chelsea FC manager Mourinho oversaw a 5-4 aggregate defeat of Barcelona in the 2004/05 first knockout round but suffered a 3-2 defeat over two legs at the same stage the next season. The 2006/07 campaign brought another reunion, this time in the group stage, with Chelsea finishing above Barça after a 1-0 home win and 2-2 away draw.

• Eto'o spent five seasons with Barcelona from 2004. The Cameroon striker hit 109 goals in 144 league appearances, including 30 last season. In the UEFA Champions League he registered 18 in 43 games, scoring Barcelona's first goals in the final triumphs of 2006 and 2009.

• Motta spent five full seasons in Barcelona's first-team squad after graduating from the club's B side. He made 96 league appearances for Barça and another 33 in the UEFA Champions League but was an unused substitute for the 2006 final victory against Arsenal.

• Ricardo Quaresma spent 2003/04 at the Camp Nou, making 22 Liga appearances and scoring once.

• Wesley Sneijder visited the Camp Nou twice with Real Madrid CF, winning 1-0 there in 2007/08 but going down 2-0 last term.

• Diego Milito scored for former club Real Zaragoza on two separate visits to Barcelona in the Spanish Liga – netting in a 2-2 draw in October 2005 and a 3-1 defeat in November 2006. He subsequently struck the only goal when Zaragoza beat Barcelona at La Romareda in April 2007.

• Having recently returned to fitness after a long-term injury, Barcelona defender Gabriel Milito could come up against his older brother and Inter striker Diego. Only three sets of brothers have played against each other in UEFA club competition: Johannes Edvaldsson (Celtic FC) and Atli Edvaldsson (Valur Reykjavík) in the first round of the 1974/75 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Ronald (PSV Eindhoven) and Erwin Koeman (KV Mechelen) in the 1988 UEFA Super Cup and John Arne (AS Roma) and Bjørn Helge Riise (Fulham FC) in this season's UEFA Europa League group stage.