There's every chance that Liverpool's Champions League quarterfinal with Manchester City will prove to be the game of the season.
Usually first legs are tense and tight affairs, with neither side wishing to cast themselves too far adrift of their opponent in case they've got too much to do in the second leg. That usually applies to the opening game visitors, yet it seems anathema to everything Pep Guardiola stands for and how his teams play.
That probably suits Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool just fine. Of course City have the firepower to blow any team out of the water on their day, but that could be said of Liverpool, too.
The Reds would much rather be playing at Anfield in the second game, but it's not an unsolvable problem. The last time they won the European Cup, they beat Juventus at this stage in similar circumstances.
Europe had been a no-go area for the Reds this decade until Klopp dragged a comparatively poor side into the 2016 Europa League final. Fans got their appetite for big European nights back that season, but had to wait another year before getting more chances.
Much is made of the Anfield atmosphere on such occasions. It doesn't always work, but it has helped the Reds defy the odds sometimes.
City's runaway league leaders compare with Jose Mourinho's Chelsea champions of 2005, who eventually finished a staggering 38 points ahead of Rafa Benitez's Liverpool. It counted for nothing when the clubs clashed in Europe.
The same scenario applies now. This tie will also be branded as new elite versus old, the modern game's current dominant force against a club clinging to its past desperate to revive itself; England's greatest competitors in Europe against a club expecting and expected to write continental history of their own.
Liverpool's record in all-England ties is pretty good, though it began badly against Leeds way back in 1971.
In the modern era they've won and lost twice to Chelsea, also beating Arsenal in a 2008 quarterfinal and defeating Manchester United in their Europa run of 2016.
Scorn poured on the impact of Anfield tends to have a nervous tremor in the snickering. City's record there -- two wins in 60 years -- is already bad enough. Such is their domination of the domestic season that many feel their time has come to bury this hoodoo. Getting the visit to Anfield over with first gives City a sizeable advantage anyway, if their incredible collective talent hadn't already done so.
But this is a Liverpool team that's already caught them out recently. Back in January, early in the second half, the score was 1-1 in the league game and City had just rattled the crossbar. Nobody could have predicted the Reds would be 4-1 up a mere 10 minutes later. Astounding, yes, but almost par for the course with City at Anfield.
Liverpool fans might have been more confident in the Benitez era, with his meticulous pragmatic approach designed to smother some ties. Even then Liverpool could turn it on as they did against Real Madrid in 2009. That was the week the Marca newspaper said "Esto es Anfield. Y que?" -- "This is Anfield; so what?" -- and then watched "their" team get thrashed 4-0.
Mancunians have not been quite so publically dismissive, and Guardiola has been respectful as always. He knows he has the second leg to right any wrongs from the first, should they arise.
The clubs are at different stages of their development, both under enormous pressure for different reasons.
Liverpool might like to claim they're just happy to reach this stage "in this moment", to use a Klopp phrase, yet the club's outstanding European pedigree means any bad result will leave a stain on it and dent current confidence. City, meanwhile have had so much money pumped into them that, like Paris Saint-Germain, domestic success might become shallow without jumping the next hurdle.
The game has become symbolic of where the clubs believe they stand. Liverpool, not quite back on their perch but still self-regarded as European royalty, needing a modern triumph to completely convince others of their stature. City are the new force, their wealth irrelevant, however, when having to prove that equally rich clubs such as Real and Barcelona must now bow to their superiority.
Victory at Anfield has continued to elude them despite their inevitable rise, so that's something else they must conquer.
Beneath all the symbolism lies an actual football match to be played between two sides that have so far scored an impressive 163 Premier League goals combined. The clubs went head-to-head in the 2014 title race and both cracked the 100-goal mark. They have different managers now, even bigger devotees of attacking football.
So often these games fizzle out and disappoint everyone, having been built up so much. This match promises to meet those expectations and might even exceed them.
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