Anyone supporter lucky enough to have followed Liverpool abroad for one of the club's fabled European away days will know there's nothing quite like the afternoon before the match.
You've made your way via whichever combination of trains, planes and automobiles is cheapest and most practical to the city the Reds are set to do battle in under the floodlights later that evening.
You've met up with your pals who've also made the trip, made sure everyone's alright for a ticket or done whatever you can to find one for those without and scouted out where the main square is that many Liverpudlians will congregate in and where the best off-the-beaten-track bars are for when you want something a bit more chilled before heading up to the ground.
All that's left to do is sit back, put your flags up - hopefully in some welcome sunshine outside a nice al fresco cafe - enjoy some delicious local cuisine and beverages and let the anticipation sink in of what lies ahead. What it's all about, no?
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When the match in prospect is Real Madrid versus Liverpool, two of the most famous and successful clubs in European history, who for all their continental conquests have only ever played one competitive match against each other previously - and that in the neutral surroundings of Paris's Parc des Princes stadium for the 1981 European Cup final - that feeling is multiplied ten-fold, particularly with the Reds having proved themselves a serious Champions League force in recent seasons, with two finals (one of them won) and a semi-final reached in three of the previous four campaigns.
Yet the thousands of Liverpool supporters who made their way to the Spanish capital for the first leg of the last 16 knock out clash between Los Blancos and Los Rojos during this week back in 2009 suddenly found themselves receiving messages from home which were not asking what the weather and cervezas were like but relaying bizarre rumours spreading like wildfire back home that manager Rafa Benitez was on the brink of being sacked and/or resigning.
By this stage of the catastrophic ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, there would not have been too many Reds surprised that another chapter of the dysfunctional soap opera their era developed into should emerge at such an inopportune moment.
Only two years after their arrival in February 2007, supporters had already watched with dismay public falling outs between the owners and the manager, the owners and the chief executive and between the two owners themselves.
Fans already knew that promises made on the Americans' arrival that their ownership would not rely on leveraging debt on the club were barefaced lies and were aware of the increasingly perilous financial plight their heroes faced, beginning to see the implications of it in the transfer market when big money summer signing Robbie Keane had been sold back to Tottenham the previous month and not replaced, while promises made on day one that there would be a 'spade in the ground within 60 days' on the club's proposed new stadium remained pie in the sky.
They had been mobilised into action against the ownership they were now demanding should sell up and leave, and had staged numerous protests outside Anfield before matches with football's first ever supporters union - the Spirit of Shankly - being formed by those who felt they could not simply just stand by and watch the club they loved being destroyed before their eyes.
They had even seen the manager they adored after having won the club a miraculous fifth European Cup in his debut season in charge, being briefed against and publicly criticised by his bosses - unheard of at Anfield in the days of Peter Robinson and John Smith - and wound up by them to such a degree he conducted a surreal press conference before Liverpool's trip to Newcastle the previous season when he repeated the phrase "I am focused on training and coaching my team" 15 times.
But he had still led them to a Champions League semi final that campaign and a comfortable fourth place finish to secure progression to the competition the following season, which thus far had seen Liverpool cruise through the group stages to set up the tie in Madrid while mounting the most credible title challenge for a decade.
Liverpool had led the Premier League for much of the first half of the campaign and had been top going into the new year, leading to real hopes that the near two-decade wait for a 19th league title could come to an end with Benitez's reign - now in its fourth full season - now showing genuine signs of delivering on the extraordinary early promise in Istanbul.
There had admittedly been a clear slump since the start of January, with only two out of six Premier League games being won with the other four drawn, which had allowed reigning champions Manchester United - aiming for a third title in a row which would draw them level with the Reds on 18 apiece - to build up a seven point lead by the time their neighbours City got a point at Anfield the weekend before the trip to Madrid.
There were still a dozen league matches to play though, including a trip to Old Trafford in mid March, and with United having been beaten at Anfield the previous September - Benitez's first league victory over Ferguson at the ninth time of asking - there was belief Liverpool could cut that gap, particularly given the resolve shown in the late wins secured over Chelsea at home and Portsmouth away since the beginning of February.
Yet with the Spanish sun beginning to beat down and fans getting into the party mood, the pre-match narrative was suddenly taken over by news that UK bookmakers had decided to suspend betting on the Spaniard leaving Anfield before the weekend which was amplified by Sky Sports News and suddenly became the hot topic of the chattering masses.
The "news" reached Benitez himself as he was sitting having lunch with his coaching staff and players in the team hotel, the Madrid-born boss receiving a text from a friend which read, "Apparently, you're not Liverpool manager anymore."
It was the first of numerous messages he would receive from friends and journalists, with even his own Liverpool players asking if he had heard the rumours, which had started as a whisper a few weeks ago when he had expressed disquiet at his inability to replace Robbie Keane and had refused to commit to a new long-term deal until assurances had been made.
But having not received the slightest inkling from his superiors that his immediate future may be at risk, let alone on the brink of such an important match, his reaction was one of bemusement as he wrote in his autobiography, Champions League Dreams some time later, "If I had been relieved of my duties, nobody had bothered to tell me."
Journalists in Madrid to cover the match suddenly found themselves being asked to report on and get reaction to this seemingly breaking news situation, with most fans expressing their support for the manager and disdain for the owners in the strongest terms.
But as afternoon turned to early evening and they began to make their way toward the Estadio Bernabeu with no official word on just what was going on, there would have been some who wondered as they climbed the numerous steps up to the top tier of the cavernous stands the away supporters would be housed whether they would actually see their beloved bespectacled boss on the faraway touchline when they game began.
There will have a been a fair few who would have breathed a sigh of relief when they saw him shaking hands with Real Madrid and former Spurs coach Juande Ramos before kick off, before Benitez's Liverpool team did all the talking for him by producing a classic continental away performance which completed a remarkable hat-trick - following the previous two season's last 16 victories at Barcelona's Camp Nou and Inter Milan's San Siro - by winning in three of the most prestigious European cathedrals in consecutive seasons.
With skipper Steven Gerrard only fit enough for a place on the substitutes bench due to a hamstring problem, the Reds set their stall out early on to draw the sting of a Madrid side on a run of nine successive victories.
Pepe Reina had to be alert to deny Raul while Sergio Ramos had a headed goal correctly disallowed for offside but as the first half wore on, Liverpool began to get a foothold in the game and created the clearest chance when Fernando Torres - inevitably getting the bird from the majority of the 71,579 crowd due to his Atletico Madrid background - was denied by international team-mate Iker Casillas.
With seasoned European campaigners like Jamie Carragher, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano following Benitez' tactical plan to the letter, the home side - and crowd - became more and more frustrated as their attempts to build a lead to take back to Anfield were stymied by the Reds' obdurate defence.
Robben stung Reina's palms from 25 yards after after the break but, even though Torres was substituted with an ankle problem, Liverpool were causing enough problems on the break to threaten an away goal and, with just eight minutes left, Madrid's worst fears came true.
Fabio Aurelio delivered a precise inswinging free-kick from the right flank onto the head of the unmarked 5 foot 7 Yossi Benayoun and the Israeli guided his header home to put Liverpool firmly in command of the tie.
It was the perfect response to all that had gone before in the build-up to the game and the matchwinner revealed there were jubilant scenes in the dressing room after the match.
"It was madness in our changing rooms and I had to take my mobile phone into the toilets to call my family", Benayoun admitted.
"It was the only way I could make myself heard. Everyone was screaming and shouting, except for the manager, of course. He was his usual calm self.
"He didn't even congratulate us or shake hands, never mind join in all the hugs and backslapping that was going on. That's just how he is. He is very professional and he wants us to be the same all the time. He won't stand for any of us getting carried away or feeling we are superior to anyone else. My wife and young children had been jumping up and down with excitement, watching at home, but he didn't say a word to me about the goal."
Benitez inevitably had to field questions about his future about the game and dead-batted them in his trademark style.
"I am staying", he confirmed. "I was clear before the game that I was not thinking about resigning. I was very surprised to hear rumours from Liverpool that I was going to resign.
"I can assure you that I have not been considering such a move, and it was a shock to hear such suggestions. I need to keep working and win games for Liverpool then I will speak to the owners further down the track.
"My lawyer was talking to the owners' advisers and there will be discussions in the future. I will try to enjoy this victory for now, not worry about negotiations. We have plenty of time; my lawyers will talk with the advisers of the owners and we will talk about it."
The Spaniard would go on to sign a contract extension the following month after Liverpool had battered Madrid 4-0 at Anfield in the return leg and three days later won 4-1 at Old Trafford to propel themselves right back into the title race.
But despite winning eight and drawing one of their final nine games, Ferguson's United dug deep to ultimately retain their title by four points and the Reds' title drought was fated to continue for another 11 years.
That crazy day in Madrid proved to be something of a microcosm of the latter years of the Benitez era, with Liverpool continually defying the odds by remaining competitive despite the civil war gradually ripping the club apart until the wheels really come off in his final season.
It will always be a matter of regret for those who enjoyed the highs of the rollercoaster ride as to what could have been achieved if everyone involved at Anfield had been pulling in the same direction.
A version of this article was published on 25th February, 2021.
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