Wednesday 22 October 2014 19:02, UK
Liverpool legend Phil Thompson is relishing tonight's Champions League clash with Real Madrid at Anfield, live on Sky.
The two clubs have won the competition 15 times between them - with 10 titles for the Spaniards - and as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos ready themselves for a night of European football on Merseyside, Thompson has highlighted the historical importance of the game.
The Sky Sports pundit, who had already helped Liverpool win the competition twice by the time he captained them to a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the 1981 final in Paris, said: "It's the most wonderful game.
"You can see the hype it's getting, that it's being built up, it's going to be great. Sky has got the game and it is really one of the big occasions in European football. A fantastic European history, the both of us.
"I can go back to playing them in a European Cup final. It was the most wonderful occasion in 1981. But we've played them since and we've beaten them twice since. This team is capable but when you conjure up memories in your mind of the all whites against the all reds - it is just fantastic.
"One of the great things is European nights at Anfield. It's just folklore isn't it? It's incredible. It does bring up some of the great nights in football. The Kop, mosaics. It's always something different and unique which make Anfield nights so special.
"(Other teams) know how important the passion of the Anfield crowd is and yet even they say on those nights it was incredible. The atmosphere, the energy pouring out. It comes back on the players and they find more energy and they play another 15, 20, 25 per cent higher, feeding off the emotion.
"No other ground has it like Anfield, the flags are all flying and the crowd singing You'll Never Walk Alone and it just creates a wonderful, wonderful, atmosphere. It's night time and something happens at Anfield when the lights go on.
"I'm painting a picture and I'm quite excited by it all. I've been there and played in front of it but it still never ceases to amaze me how good this can actually be."
Watch Liverpool v Real Madrid, Champions League Group B, tonight, 6pm, Sky Sports 5