Mohamed Salah will line up for Liverpool to take on Real Madrid in the Champions League final later this month in a contest that sees the Egyptian looking to avenge the defeat of 2018.
The two teams met at the same stage of the competition four years ago in Kyiv on a night that saw Salah forced off early after sustaining an injury from at what first looked like an innocent coming together with Sergio Ramos, but replays show there may have been some gamesmanship from the Spanish central defender.
Salah's injury was just a chapter in what was a thrilling encounter that saw two huge goalkeeping errors from Loris Karius between the sticks for the Reds either side of a Gareth Bale overhead kick to restore Real Madrid's lead after Sadio Mane had equalised.
The pain of losing is unlikely to have worn off of Salah, but the agony of being unable to play much of a part that night is clearly still something that he uses as motivation to this day. It all started when Ramos appeared to lock Salah's arm and force the pair to fall down, with the Liverpool talisman landing awkwardly.
He walked off in tears before being later diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, while Klopp was furious that Ramos was not punished further. "If you watch it back and you are not with Real Madrid then you think it is ruthless and brutal," the Reds boss told reporters.
"I saw the ref taking charge of big games at the World Cup and nobody really thinks about that later. But in a situation like that somebody needs to judge it better.
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"If VAR is coming then it is a situation where you have to look again. Not to give a red card but to look again and say: ‘What is that?’ It was ruthless."
Salah is on the record as claiming the pain of that defeat is not something he still thinks about. Speaking before the two teams met in the 2020-21 edition of the competition, the former Roma forward told Marca : "That game is in the past, so I don't think about [what happened with Ramos].
"I'm thinking about the team. Everyone is focused on their team and everyone wants to win... that's it. Let's just say that I have special motivation to win the tie and go through to the semi-finals.
"What's going to happen now isn't going to change the result of the final in Kyiv. That's in the past." Though it would be fair to say that Salah's more recent comments don't exactly echo those sentiments.
Pressed for comment as to who he wanted to face in the final out of Real Madrid or Manchester City, Salah explained to BT Sport he had a clear preference.
"I want to play Madrid, I have to be honest. City are a really tough team, we played against them a few times this season, but I think if you ask me personally, I would prefer Madrid," he admitted. "Because we lost in the final against them, I want to play against them, and hopefully win against them."
Those comments did not go down well with Fede Valverde of Los Blancos, who insisted that the Egyptian had been guilty of "disrespecting the badge" with his confession.
"Obviously they're words that everyone can take however they want," Valverde told Club del Deportista magazine. "I'm his opponent and it's like disrespecting the Real Madrid badge, the players.
"The only thing we must do is give our best, try to show why we're in the final and let's hope we can give another trophy to the fans and to Real Madrid."
Valverde didn't comment on Salah's not-so-subtle tweet, which simple read: "We have a score to settle." Posted as soon as Real Madrid had booked their place in Paris, this is fighting talk from the Reds superstar.
If the stakes weren't high enough already, there is no some animosity and rivalry added to the mix. The kind of things people have suggested Liverpool's battle City lack, they have managed to stumble open with Real Madrid for the biggest prize of all.
