AS Roma familiar rivals for FC Barcelona

AS Roma will be FC Barcelona’s rivals in this season Gamper Trophy game that will be played on 5 August at Camp Nou. The club from the Italian capital are no strangers to playing the blaugranes as the two sides have already met on seven occasions in the past.

The first meeting between the teams came way back in 1953 in Caracas, Venezuela of all places. It was the third round of what was known as ‘The Little World Cup’ and a Barça side led by Kubala emerged a 1-0 victors over the Romans thanks to a goal from Moreno. The second clash between the two clubs was just a few days later in the fifth round of the same competition. This time it was Roma who came out on top, winning by scoreline of 4-2.

Three friendlies in four decades

It was another 14 years before the ‘giallorossi’ and the blaugranes met again. In 1967 they met in a friendly fixture in the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the home side coming away with a 2-1 on that day. In 1985 a game to honour the Barça ‘penyes’ (supporters’ clubs) was organised and the opponents chose were the Italians. The blaugranes were victorious in that encounter, two goals from Bernd Schuster giving them the win. Nine years later the teams played out another friendly, this time in Rome with the game ending 3-3.

Rivals in Europe this century

In the new millennium, Roma and Barça have met on two occasions. Both fixtures came in the Champions League group stage in 2002. At Camp Nou the side played out a 1-1 draw whilst in Rome the home side took a comfortable 3-0 win. The current FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique started both games for the blaugranes and the current Roma captain, veteran Francesco Totti, also appeared in the starting line up in the two matches.

In total against Roma, Barça’s record is of two wins, two draws and three defeats. The Gamper Trophy game gives the blaugranes the chance to level things up against the Italians.