van gaal got the better of fiorentina with fc barcelona in the 1999/2000 uefa champions league group stage. the dutchman oversaw a 4-2 home victory against the viola in september 1999, before a 3-3 draw in florence two months later.
van gaal has twice faced italian opposition in the uefa champions league final. in 1995 his afc ajax team overcame ac milan 1-0, before losing the following season's showpiece to juventus after a penalty shoot-out.
van gaal had previously guided ajax to victory against torino fc in the 1992 uefa cup final.
bayern goalkeeper butt's goal against juventus on matchday 6 was his third against the bianconeri in europe. he converted a spot-kick for hamburger sv in a 4-4 draw in 2000/01 and another for bayer 04 leverkusen in a 3-1 win the following season.
in 2006 alberto gilardino appeared as a substitute in italy's 2-0 fifa world cup semi-final win against a germany team including klose, philipp lahm and schweinsteiger.
gilardino tasted semi-final defeat when milan lost out to a barcelona side including mark van bommel in the 2005/06 uefa champion league semi-final.
the following campaign, gilardino was part of the milan team that got the better of bayern at the quarter-final stage despite two goals from daniel van buyten at san siro.
mutu featured as a second-half substitute in former club juventus's 2-1 loss at bayern in the 2005/06 uefa champions league group stage. he was a late substitute in the return in turin when juve won by the same scoreline.
stefan effenberg played for both bayern – with whom he won the 2000/01 uefa champions league – and fiorentina. effenberg joined the viola in 1992 from bayern, returning to the bavarian giants in 1998.
luca toni spent two free-scoring seasons with fiorentina from 2005-07 before moving on to bayern. he joined as roma on loan in january.
