Every footballer to play for both Barcelona and Inter Milan

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The Football Faithful

·30 aprile 2025

Every footballer to play for both Barcelona and Inter Milan

Barcelona and Inter Milan come head to head in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals this week.

Both of these storied clubs have shared some of the greatest to have ever played the game, so we’ve compiled a list of all them below.

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Barcelona vs Inter: Every footballer to play for both clubs

Ronaldo Nazario

The Ronaldo already had a World Cup winner’s medal in the back pocket by the time he went to Europe, but the striker truly became a worldwide phenomenon when he joined Barcelona. Incidentally, the Catalonian outfit beat Inter Milan to his signing in 1996.

The Brazilian spent one spectacular year at the Camp Nou, scoring 47 goals in 49 games while winning the Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup and the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup. A breakdown in the renegotiation of his contract meant his time there was short lived, though.

Ronaldo became the second player, after Diego Maradona, to break the world transfer record when Inter swooped in with a £17m bid, activating his release clause. He went on to win his first Ballon d’Or in 1997 – the youngest to ever do so – and the Uefa Cup the following year, scoring a trademark goal – feinting right then left without touching the ball before finishing – in the final against Lazio.

Read – Remembering when a 21-year-old Ronaldo Nazario won the Ballon d’Or

Luís Figo

A hated figure at Barcelona following his controversial move to Real Madrid, Luís Figo was once the supporters’ most beloved player. He starred alongside Ronaldo in their Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup triumph, followed by successive La Liga titles, and scored 45 goals in 249 appearances over five years.

The Portuguese icon moved to Inter in 2005, winning the Scudetto in each of his four years at the San Siro before retiring in 2009.

Wing Wizards – Luis Figo: Brilliance and betrayal

Samuel Eto’o

One of Barcelona’s best signings – and most regrettable sales – Samuel Eto’o was absolutely sensational during his five years at the club. Scoring 130 goals in 199 appearances, he won the Champions League twice and La Liga three times.

After winning the Treble, the Cameroonian was sold to Inter Milan in a blockbuster swap deal with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Eto’o subsequently helped the Italian side win a Treble of their own, beating Barcelona in the Champions League along the way.

Read – Remembering the Inter Milan side that famously beat Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2010

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Inter got three good seasons out of Zlatan Ibrahimovic before trading him to Barcelona, winning the Scudetto three times consecutively while he was there. But the move to Spain was a disaster for the Swede, missing out on that famous Treble campaign before being sent out on loan to AC Milan the following year.

In his absence Barça would go on to win the Champions League, the one trophy that alluded him throughout his career.

Iconic Performances – Zlatan stuns England and turns critics into believers

Alexis Sánchez

An unstoppable force in his prime, Alexis Sànchez was a sublime attacker for Barcelona, winning a La Liga title, the Copa del Rey, Uefa Super Cup, Club World Cup and two Spanish Super Cups. Unfortunately, his three-year spell fell between two Champions League wins, missing out on the 2014/15 win when he joined Arsenal to make way for Luis Suarez.

The Chilean was magnificent for the Gunners before joining Manchester United, where he was a shell of his former self. He experienced something of a Renaissance while on loan with Inter, who he joined on a permanent deal in 2020 following defeat in the Europa League final.

Sánchez went on to win the Scudetto the next year, followed by a Coppa Italia win the year after. He subsequently joined Marseille, but returned to Milan after just one season, winning another Scudetto before joining former club Udinese.

Philippe Coutinho

Philippe Coutinho joined Inter as a teenager, but never quite delivered on his promise there. After three years of struggling for gametime, Liverpool took a punt on the playmaker and it paid off handsomely.

The Brazilian’s performances convinced Barcelona to part with £142 million for his services in January 2018. It turned out to be money very poorly spent as he never quite lived up to the transfer fee. Coutinho did win the Champions League during his four-year spell at Barcelona – while on loan with Bayern Munich.

Read – Six big money Barcelona transfers that flopped badly

Héctor Scarone

Considered one of the world’s best players of his time, Héctor Scarone earned the monikers ‘El Mago’ and “the Gardel of football” – Carlos Gardel was a highly influential tango singer in Latin America in the first half of the twentieth century – for his ability with a football.

A World Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medallist with Uruguay, Scarone spent one season in Barcelona, winning the Copa del Rey in 1926 before returning to his home country with boyhood club Nacional. Four years later the inside forward joined Inter for a single season, scoring seven goals in 14 appearances. He later went on to manage Real Madrid.

Nicolae Simatoc

Also known as Miklós Szegedi, Romanian midfielder Nicolae Simatoc played at Inter Milan under legendary manager Giuseppe Meazza in the 1948/49 campaign. A year later the midfielder joined Barcelona, where he won a La Liga title and the Copa del Generalísimo twice.

Simatoc went into coaching after his playing finished in 1953, which took him to Australia. Upon his retirement from the game he became a professional poker player and owned a casino.

Luis Suárez

No, not that one. Born in 1935, the Spanish Luis Suárez was one of the finest players of his generation and one of the best midfielders of all time.

‘El Arquitecto’ won La Liga twice, the Copa del Generalísimo twice, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice and the Ballon d’Or during his six-year stint at Barcelona. The only trophy that eluded him there was the European Cup after losing the final to Benfica in his final season at the club.

Suárez would rectify that at his next club, Inter Milan, forming a key part of the fabled team that won the competition twice in a row in the sixties. He also won the European Championship with Spain in 1960.

João Cancelo

Curiously, João Cancelo wasn’t permanently signed by either club. The Portuguese full-back was loaned out to Inter Milan by Valencia in 2017/19, and spent the 2023/24 season at Barcelona while on the books at Manchester City.

Edgar Davids

A terrific midfielder most fondly remembered for his time at Ajax and Juventus, Edgar Davids joined Barcelona on loan at a time when the club were struggling for form, in January 2004. He played a pivotal role in their resurgence in the second half of the season, helping them finish second in La Liga behind Valencia.

The Dutchman joined Inter the following season, but he could never quite recreate the magic from earlier in his career, and his contract was terminated in August 2005.

Read – Midfield Generals: Edgar ‘The Pitbull’ Davids

Arturo Vidal

Arturo Vidal has bounced around some of Europe’s biggest clubs, so it’s not surprising he played for both Barcelona and Inter. The midfielder won a league title in the first of two seasons in Spain before joining Antonio Conte’s side, with whom he won another league title in his debut campaign.

The Chilean was only there for two seasons before returning to South America. After a couple of years in Brazil, he is back playing with the club he started out at, Colo Colo.

Read – Iconic: The best of Ronaldo Nazario for Inter Milan

Thiago Motta

Despite enduring a career blighted by injuries, Thiago Motta enjoyed great success as a footballer. Indeed, he is one of only two players to have won the Champions League with both Barcelona and Inter Milan.

The Italian defensive midfielder was in Barça’s first team for six years, making 139 appearances, before joining Inter Milan later in his career, playing 83 times over three seasons.

Laurent Blanc

Johan Cruyff convinced Laurent Blanc to join Barcelona in 1996, but the manager was sacked on the very day he signed. Although the Frenchman was part of a team that won three trophies, his sole season at the club wasn’t enjoyable, compounded by the fact he missed the Cup Winners’ Cup final through injury.

The 1998 World Cup winner returned to France with Marseille for two years before joining Inter, where he had a better time of it, winning the club’s Player of the Year award in 2000.

Francesco Coco

Once viewed as the heir apparent to Paolo Maldini, Francesco Coco arrived at Barcelona on loan from AC Milan in 2001, scoring once in 23 La Liga appearances. The defender then joined Inter with Clarence Seedorf going the other way. There he won the Coppa Italia and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, but his time with the Nerazzurri was plagued by injury problems.

Ricardo Quaresma

The mercurial winger was once touted as the next big thing in football, but Ricardo Quaresma never delivered on his potential at Barcelona (or, arguably, anywhere), making just ten league starts in his only season at the club.

After returning to Portugal for four years with FC Porto, he linked up with Jose Mourinho at Inter. He fared no better in Italy than he did in Spain, however. The manager criticised his lack of tactical discipline and at the end of his first campaign he was awarded the Bidone d’oro for the worst player in Serie A.

After the club failed to offload him, Quaresma found first-team opportunities hard to come by. He seldom featured in the league and made just two appearances in the Champions League as the team won the Treble. The definition of a Streets Won’t Forget player.

Read – A tribute to Ricardo Quaresma, the Trivela King

Rafinha

Despite winning a plethora of major trophies, including the Champions League, Rafinha never made much of an impact at Barcelona. The Brazilian joined La Blaugrana as a 13-year-old and went on to spend the majority of his career there, but didn’t even reach 100 appearances in all competitions.

In 2017/18 the midfielder was sent out on loan to Inter, for whom he scored two goals in 17 matches.

Maxwell

Only four players have won more major trophies in the history of football than Maxwell, which speaks to his ability to move clubs at just the right time.

After winning the Scudetto in each of his three years at Inter, the Brazilian left-back joined Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side. His former club may have defeated them in the semi-finals of the Champions League in his first season in Catalunya, but he did lift the trophy the following year.

Jeison Murillo

The central defender made 69 appearances in all competitions over two years at Inter Milan before joining Valencia. He was loaned out to Barcelona in December 2018, but only featured three times.

Read – Ranking the four teams in the Champions League semi-finals