25th May 2005.
A day when two famous sides met in the most prestigious final in club football in Istanbul.
It turned into a day that would be remembered forever in the history of football.
The greatest European final that there has ever been.
Everyone knows what happened, Rafa Benitez done a deal with the devil at half-time and Steven Gerrard led a much inferior side from 3-0 down to winning on penalties.
It still haunts some of the AC Milan squad to this day.
Two years later though they would get their revenge with a 2-1 win in the final in Athens.
Remarkably those two finals are the only two competitive games between the pair but now they’ll meet in the group stages as it the Champions League is back.
Milan and Liverpool are certainly European royalty with seven and six European cups respectively however this is Milan’s first appearance in the Champions League since the 2013/14 season.
They will start their adventure in the competition without key player and main protagonist Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Swede has got an achilles issue but Milan may be slightly thankful that he isn’t playing as his record against Liverpool is diabolical.
He’s played The Reds six times and hasn’t won on any occasion, although a player of his stature up against Virgil Van Dijk would have been some battle for fans at Anfield to witness.
Olivier Giroud and Ante Rebic are ready to deputise though, the pair being good enough strikers in their own right.
The visitors will also be without former Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Meanwhile Liverpool will have Takumi Minamino back as an option off the bench however Roberto Firmino is still injured after the hamstring issue he suffered against Chelsea.
Of course as well Harvey Elliott will not be available after his horrific injury against Leeds United, we wish him the quickest of recoveries.
Youngsters Conor Bradley and Kaide Gordon were in training with the first-team so the pair may be in the match day squad.
One of Joe Gomez or Ibrahim Konate are likely to get their first appearances of the season as Joel Matip has played every game so far so a rest will be needed sooner rather than later to avoid any injury scares.
A European night under the lights at Anfield to get the Champions League journey under way certainly isn’t too bad and Jurgen Klopp is as buzzing as the rest of the supporters.
“It’s about getting enough points to get through so we should not waste time. A long time since we had a home game at Anfield [with fans]. European nights at Anfield.
“I can’t wait to experience that again” said the German in his press conference.
He also had his say on just how big the fixture is as he said: “I have more in mind than the two finals but if you think of any European battle, Liverpool v AC Milan is a must-watch.
“Milan not been in Champions League for years but are doing well for 18 months. Started this season good so it’ll be tough. There are a few nice games in this CL, this is one.”
He is definitely right, what a fixture this could be in the most difficult group Liverpool have had under Klopp.
Let the fun begin.
