Munich. March 2019. The last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. FC Bayern Munich versus Liverpool FC. Not since 1981 had these two European juggernauts met in a competitive fixture. And buoyed by a first-leg 0-0 draw at Anfield, the home fans had high expectations.

A crowd of just over 68,000 packed inside the Allianz Arena, 4,000 of them travelling Kopites. Mia San Mia [We Are Who We Are] versus You’ll Never Walk Alone. Inside one of the finest new stadiums in the world.

At night, the luminous foil-air panelling on the outside of the Allianz Arena beams out red and white lights, piercing the darkness. FC Bayern Munich’s stadium glows, but on the pitch it was Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool FC who shone brightest.

It was Klopp’s 24th match as a manager against FCB and arguably his greatest away win as Reds boss. Certainly in Europe, perhaps of them all. Not just because the 3-1 success put the Reds into the UEFA Champions League quarter-final en-route to winning the competition in Madrid, but it also made Liverpool FC the first English club to have won at all four of European football’s greatest cathedrals - Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu, San Siro and Allianz Arena.

Skipper Jordan Henderson was forced off early with a twisted ankle, Fabinho on in his place, but it was Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mané who proved to be the game-changers. With 26 minutes played, van Dijk pinged a pass forward and Mané darted inside full-back Rafinha to chase it.

Manuel Neuer, FCB’s legendary goalkeeper, spotted the danger and rushed out, but Mané sensationally controlled the ball with his outstep while on the run and swivelled past the German with another touch. Neuer was left running in the wrong direction away from his goal and Mané beautifully clipped home a left-footed effort that spun past Rafinha and Mats Hummels as they chased back to the goalline. Quite simply, world class.

The hosts got a goal back when Joël Matip diverted a Serge Gnabry cross into his own net with Robrt Lewandowski waiting to tap in, but the Reds were on top after the break and after Mo Salah stung Neuer’s gloves and Trent Alexander-Arnold forced the goalie to tip over directly from a corner, James Milner took the next one.

He put it right onto Virgil’s head and although Hummels tried to challenge him in the air it made no difference. The net bulged. It was a thumping header. 2-1 Liverpool FC.

That would have been enough, but when we went the Allianz, Liverpool scored three and Mané wasn’t finished. He met Salah’s cross with a far-post header to give the Redmen a maiden away victory against FC Bayern Munich and a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. The travelling Kop celebrated by belting out the new Bobby Firmino song over and over again.

Now, five years later, the aim is to get back to the Allianz Arena. FCB will host the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday 31st May, 2025, and Arne Slot and his Liverpool FC team would love to be there.

However, following an overhaul of the competition the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League has a new format that means the Reds will play at least eight league games and could play a maximum of 17 matches if they reach the final.

We could give you a dry, lengthy explanation of how the new format works and discuss the coefficient system in painstaking detail. But we’ve all got better things to do so, if you’re still here, let’s get down to business.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FORMAT 2024/25

• The 32-team groups stage has been replaced by one 36-team league.

• Teams are placed into four pots and play two teams from every pot once.

• Liverpool FC are in pot one.

• The Reds will play four games at Anfield against one team from each pot and four games away from home against one team from each pot.

• You get three points for a win, one for a draw and zilch for a defeat.

• After every team has played eight games there will be a final 36-team league table.

• The top eight qualify automatically to the last 16. The bottom eight go out and do not drop into the UEFA Europa League.

• Teams that finish 9th to 24th go into a two-legged play-off with the winners also reaching the last 16. The losers are out with no UEFA Europa League parachute either.

• A traditional 16-team knockout phase follows on a home and away basis with two clubs reaching the final in Munich.

• Er, that’s it.

You can go and do something else now, like spend your MyLFC points on cool stuff. Or dream about Virgil van Dijk returning to the Allianz Arena and heading home another goal that leads to Liverpool FC lifting a seventh European Cup.

Because having thought back to that magical night in Munich in 2019, we are.