All three Serie A sides managed to advance past the Round of 16 and make it to the quarter-finals in the Champions League. It hadn’t happened in 17 years, since the 2005/2006 season. Italy won the World Cup a few months afterward.
Italy is the most represented nation at this point in the competition. Two Premier League teams, Manchester City and Chelsea, one La Liga club, Real Madrid, one Bundesliga outfit, Bayern Munich, and one Portuguese one, Benfica, complete the pool.
As SportMediaset points out, it occurred just twice in history. In 2002/2003, all three advanced, and Juventus and Milan met in the final, with the former prevailing on PKs. In 2004/2005, the Rossoneri bested their crosstown rivals in the semifinal, but then Liverpool staged an incredible comeback against them in Istanbul.
Napoli reached the Round of Eight for the first time in their history. Serie A has been collectively absent from the Champions League final in six years. Juventus were the last one to go that far. The most recent victory dates back to 2010 when José Mourinho’s Inter topped Bayern Munich in Madrid to complete their historic treble.
Inter, Milan, and Napoli didn’t concede a single goal in their six matches in the past stage. In addition, there are four Italian coaches left since Carlo Ancelotti is helming Real Madrid. The veteran gaffer is shooting for his fifth triumph. Instead, Stefano Pioli, Luciano Spalletti, and Simone Inzaghi are rookies for this stage of the big-eared cup. There will be no geographical restriction in the Friday’s draw, so the Italian outfits could potentially face each other.
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