Milan's legendary striker Marco van Basten and their £13 million young sensation Gianluigi Lentini (then the world's most expensive footballer) were both injured, while Franco Baresi and defender Alessandro Costacurta were both suspended.

UEFA regulations at the time, which limited teams to fielding a maximum of three non-nationals, meant that Milan coach Fabio Capello was forced to leave out Florin Răducioiu, Jean-Pierre Papin and Brian Laudrup.

Milan dominated early and were rewarded when Dejan Savićević ran down the right flank and passed to Daniele Massaro, who tapped the ball into an empty net.

[3] In the 47th minute, Savićević capitalised on a defensive error by Miguel Ángel Nadal to lob goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta for the third goal.

Eight minutes later, after Savićević had hit a post and the Barcelona defence had failed to clear, Milan midfielder Marcel Desailly beat the offside trap to make it 4–0, which ended up being the final score.