3 | Players for both Barça and Napoli

3 | Players for both Barça and Napoli

Diego Maradona, Laurent Blanc and Pepe Reina are the only three footballers to have represented both clubs along their histories

There are just three days to go before Barça v Napoli and just three players have ever donned the jerseys of both clubs during their long and distinguished histories: Diego Maradona, Laurent Blanc and Pepe Reina. On Saturday 8 August the two teams will come face to face in the second leg of their last 16 Champions League tie in search of a place in the last eight of the competition to be played in Lisbon, Portugal. 

Of the three players who have played for both Barça and Napoli, the only one to have moved between the two clubs directly is Diego Maradona. A Barça player between 1982 and 1984, he then moved to Napoli where he stayed until 1991. The Argentine is considered one of the best players in the history of the game and he claimed silverware with Barça, in Naples and with the Argentinian national team. 

In his two seasons with the blaugranes Maradona won the Copa del Rey, the League Cup and the Spanish Super Cup. His time at Barça was dogged by injury yet he still created moments that live on in Barça history such as his goal against Real Madrid in the Bernabéu and his goal against Red Star Belgrade. In Italy in his seven seasons with Napoli he claimed two league titles, a Coppa Italia, an Italian Super Cup as well the UEFA Cup. 

French defender Laurent Blanc played for Napoli between 1991 and 1992, the season following the departure of Diego Maradona. In 1996 he joined the blaugranes and in just one season with the Club he won the Copa del Rey, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the Spanish Super Cup. Pepe Reina was at Barça between 2000 and 2002 before going on to play for Villarreal, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. In Italy he had two spells with Napoli between 2013 and 2018, winning the Coppa Italia. The goalkeeper is still playing and currently with Premier League club Aston Villa. .

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