In 1997, the first deals were struck betweenAC Milan andFC Barcelona, and the practice has continued to the present day. In fact,Barça have shared players with Milan more than any other European club, a total of 13. Some came toBarcelona having turned out previously for the red-and-blacks, while others moved the other way.

From Milan to Barcelona

The first arrivals at theCamp Nou fromMilan were DutchmanMichael Reiziger and FrenchmanCristophe Dugarry in the 1997/98 season, the first underLouis van Gaal.Reiziger starred for the club for seven seasons, whileDugarry made considerably less impact. Another Dutchman arrived from Italy the year after,Winston Bogarde.

In 2001/02,Francesco Coco arrived on loan, but failed to win a regular place in the FCB defence and didn't win any titles in his time at the club.

From the Camp Nou to the San Siro

The first transfer in the other direction was that in 2002 ofRivaldo, who had delighted the Camp Nou for several years. In 2008, another Brazilian striker,Ronaldinho, departed in one of the highest profile deals in recent football history. He was joined byGianluca Zambrotta, who had been at Barcelona from 2006 to 2008.

The last player to leave Barça for Milan wasZlatan Ibrahimovic in the summer of 2010. On Wednesday he will face off against his former colleagues.

It was many years ago that Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, and Leo Messi, last appeared together on the pitch. It was almost ten seasons ago, in the Cadet B team first, and later Cadet A, in which all three played together. Since then, many things have happened. Messi has evolved into the best player in the world, while Pique and Cesc both left the Club, and then came back to have success with the first team. In Prague, for the first time this season, the three of them were in the starting 11. Injuries to the defender and midfielder, and the odd game on the bench, had prevented this from happening before.

Perfect Understanding, perfect evening

So far, all three had shared only 27 minutes of play , spread between the return of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid (3-2) and the 5-0 win over Athletico Madrid. Against Viktoria Pilsen they played together for 90 minutes, with an understanding better than ever, clearly demonstrated in the last move of the game, when Pique back-heeled the ball to Messi, who made it 4-0. Before that, Messi had scored two more goals and Cesc also scored. In short, a perfect reunion for all three.

A 5-0 run

With all three on the field, in these 117 minutes together, Guardiola's team has a favorable balance of 5-0. To the four goals scored in the Eden Stadium in Prague one can add the Messi goal against Madrid at the Camp Nou, which helped to win the first trophy of the season. With Pique, Cesc, and Messi, together on the pitch, the team hasn't conceded a single goal.

Alexis Sanchez is again a happy man. It's been 52 days since the day that he was injured playing for FC Barcelona against Real Sociedad, in the third game of the season. On Tuesday, in Prague, Alexis got the all-clear before the game, started on the bench, and finally was able to play some minutes. They were special minutes, as this November 1st 2011, Alexis Sanchez played his first game ever in the Champions League. It was in the 73rd minute when he replaced Abidal, and he showed during the just over 20 minutes on the pitch that he's 100% recovered.

Before, the UEFA Europa League

Until Tuesday Alexis had never played a game in Europe's top competition, not even with his previous club Udinese, the other European team where he has played. The injury sustained on September 10th against Real Sociedad prevented him from making his debut in the Champions League before Tuesday. The only European experience that the Chilean previously had was in the UEFA Europa League. In his first year at Udinese, the 2008/09 season, the Italian team reached the quarterfinals of the competition, and Alexis played a total of 9 games.

Another match-ball to add to his collection. He now has 13, or 14 if you count the 4 goals he scored against Arsenal. Messi is inexhaustible, always wants more, and destroys every record. In Prague he reached 202 goals for Barça, and of these, he's scored 160 with Guardiola as manager. It's a demonstration that the arrival of Guardiola changed the life of the best player on the planet. The insatiable productivity of the Barça striker places him, once again, as top scorer in the Champions League.

5 goals away from the Camp Nou

In the league he tends to score at home, but in Europe, in away matches. That's Messi, who has now scored 5 goals in 4 games in the Champions League. The first two he scored in Minsk, to tie Kubala's goal-scoring record, and the 3 against Viktoria bring him increasingly closer to Cesar's all-time record (235 goals). With his hat-trick against the Czechs, Messi overtakes Seydou Doumbia, the CSKA Moscow player, who has 4 goals in the competition. It's worth remembering that Messi has been top scorer in the Champions League in the last three seasons.

First hat-trick in Europe

6 goals in 4 days. It seems easy but it isn't. To score two hat-tricks in a row is only possible for the selected few, so much so that Messi has done it for the first time. In fact, if we don't take into account the 4 goals he scored against Arsenal in the 2009/10 Champions League quarter final, this is Messi's first hat-trick in European competition.

Víctor Valdés is now the FC Barcelona goalkeeper who has gone the most games without conceding a goal. Following nine clean sheets, he has now gone unbeaten for 877 minutes, more than the 824 minutes established by Miguel Reina in the 1972/73 season. As the game ended 4-0, Valdés can still extend his incredible record.

Monumental save

He had to work to earn that record though. In the 16th minute Viktoria's Petrzela was through on goal and Valdés came out better in a one-on-one situation. That save could have changed the course of the match, for shortly after Cisovsky was sent off for a penalty offence.

Not since Pablo Hernández scored against him at Mestalla in the 23rd minute of the Valencia v Barça match has Valdés been beaten, and he has since kept clean sheets against all of Atlético Madrid, Sporting, Racing, Sevilla, Granada and Mallorca in the League and BATE and Viktoria (twice) in the Champions League.

Guardiola and Messi make 200, and Alexis back

Other names involved in the win in Prague were Pep Guardiola, Leo Messi and Alexis Sánchez. The coach was in charge for his 200th match, where he was able to enjoy the 144th win and 500th goal. The Argentinian scored goals 200, 201 and 202 of his Barça career in his second consecutive hat-trick. And the Chilean was back in action after an absence of a month and a half through injury.