Alonso, McManaman and eight more to feature for both LFC and Real

The Reds are last team to beat reigning champions Los Blancos in a European Cup final, when Alan Kennedy's 81st-minute strike secured a 1-0 triumph in Paris in 1981.

Numerous players have turned out for both clubs since then, with several claiming European titles at Anfield and the Santiago Bernabeu.

Ahead of another titanic tussle, here's nine players and a manager who have donned the colours of both clubs down the years....

Steve McManaman

Picked out by Ian Rush as one of the most promising players in the Liverpool youth ranks, tricky winger McManaman lived up to the billing as his pace and dribbling ability helped him sparkle alongside the likes of Peter Beardsley and John Barnes. 

He was instrumental in winning the FA Cup in 1992 and scored two fantastic goals in a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers in the 1995 League Cup final before being handed the iconic No.7 shirt by manager Roy Evans.

Real spotted the Scouser's talent and snapped him up in 1999. He won two La Liga titles at the Bernabeu, and scored a brilliant volley to beat Valencia goalkeeper Santiago Canizares in the 1999-2000 Champions League final to win the first of a pair of European Cups with Los Blancos.

Xabi Alonso

Spanish midfielder Alonso was one of the first players to join Rafa Benitez's revolution in 2004, making the switch from Real Sociedad, and the classy operator quickly established himself as an Anfield favourite.

The pass master was instrumental in Liverpool's Champions League triumph in 2005 - scoring the equaliser in the final against AC Milan - and FA Cup success a year later.

His departure for Real Madrid in 2009 was mourned on the Kop and he won virtually everything with Los Blancos, including their 'La Decima' Champions League triumph in 2014 and their 2012 La Liga title victory.

Alvaro Arbeloa

Madridista Arbeloa came through Real's youth ranks before being snapped from Deportivo La Coruna by Liverpool boss Benitez in January 2007.

The dependable full-back proved to be an excellent acquisition and became a fans' favourite during his two-and-a-half years at Anfield.

He played in the 2007 Champions League final in Athens and then, after returning from Euro 2008 with a winners' medal, helped Benitez's side finish second in the Premier League as first-choice right-back during the 2008-09 season.

Arbeloa re-joined boyhood club Real in the summer of 2009, where he won numerous trophies, including two Champions League titles and La Liga.

Jerzy Dudek

Signed from Feyenoord on deadline day in August 2001, Polish goalkeeper Dudek will forever be remembered at Anfield for his 2005 Champions League final heroics.

His stunning double reflex stop from Andriy Shevchenko when the score was tied at 3-3 has gone down as one of the greatest saves ever, while his 'spaghetti legs' antics and penalty saves from Andrea Pirlo and Shevchenko in the shootout were key to victory in Istanbul.

'The Big Pole in Our Goal' also won the League Cup and FA Cup during his 186 games for the Reds.

Dudek moved to Real in 2007, at the age of 34, and was back-up to Iker Casillas for four years before eventually hanging up his gloves.

Nicolas Anelka

Real paid a then-club-record fee to sign Premier League winner Anelka from Arsenal in 1999 and the striker went on to lift the European Cup in his debut campaign in Spain.

However, he failed to settle at the Bernabeu and returned home to France, re-joining first club Paris Saint-Germain after just one season.

Liverpool boss Gerrard Houllier signed Anelka on loan from the Ligue 1 outfit in December 2001 and he helped the Reds finish second in the league, but the deal was never made permanent.

Fernando Morientes

Old-fashioned No.9 Morientes was one-half of a famous partnership with Real legend Raul for seven trophy-laiden seasons at the Bernabeu.

A great goalscorer in his own right, the former Spain international once netted five in a league game against Las Palmas and scored in the 1999-2000 Champions League final to help secure one of his three European Cups with Los Blancos.

He joined Benitez's Liverpool in January 2005 and was part of the FA Cup-winning side of 2006.

Michael Owen

Owen burst onto the scene for Liverpool in 1997, scoring just 16 minutes into his debut as a fresh-faced 17-year-old. 

Within a year, the Englishman had become one of the hottest properties in world football, due to his brilliant goalscoring record and THAT incredible strike against Argentina at World Cup 1998. 

By the time the striker left Anfield for Real in 2004, he had won the UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA Cup treble under Gerard Houllier and scooped the Ballon d'Or - only the fourth Englishman to ever do so after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton and Kevin Keegan.

Owen joined Real during the Galacticos era and had to fight for a starting place with the likes of Raul, Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane. 

He scored in a 4-2 El Clasico win over Barcelona but was often used as substitute. He departed Real at the end of the campaign with the best goals-to-minutes played ratio in La Liga that season.

Nuri Sahin

Bundesliga Player of the Season Nuri Sahin left Borussia Dortmund to sign for Jose Mourinho's Real in 2011, but never really made his mark at the Bernabeu.

He joined Liverpool on loan in the summer of 2012 and then returned to Dortmund on loan in January 2013, before making that move permanent the following year.

Antonio Nunez

Madrid-born winger Nunez was promoted to Real's full squad by Carlos Queiroz for the 2003-04 season and scored an equaliser on his debut to help secure a 1-1 draw with Villarreal.

He joined Liverpool the following term as part of the deal that took Owen to the Bernabeu.

The Spaniard scored his one and only goal for the Reds after coming off the bench in the 2005 League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium, but couldn't prevent a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

Rafael Benitez

Benitez joined Liverpool from Valencia in the summer of 2004 after impressively breaking the Real Madrid-Barcelona duopoly to win La Liga.

In his first season at Anfield, the Spaniard led the Reds back to the summit of European football after a 21-year absence, beating AC Milan in an unforgettable Champions League final at the Ataturk Stadium.

Although the 2005 Miracle of Istanbul was the high point of his six years in charge, FA Cup success followed in 2006 and the Reds reached another Champions League final in 2007.

Rafa was appointed manager of home-town club, where he had once been a youth coach, in June 2015 but was replaced by Los Blancos legend Zinedine Zidane seven months later, even though Real were third in La Liga at the time, just two points behind Barcelona and four behind Atletico.