Euroscene: Mamma mia, how times have changed. Here we are on the eve of football's premier club final and most commentators are portraying it as a clash between a creative, attacking Italian side and a dour, defensive English one.
Were he to return to earth today, Liverpool legend Bill Shankly would hardly believe his eyes.
It is, of course, open to debate as to just how "Italian" and how "English" the current AC Milan and Liverpool are. That, though, is for another day. What we can say on the eve of tomorrow's Champions League final in Istanbul is that, tactically at least, the wheel has come full circle.
Fabio Capello, coach to newly-crowned Italian champions Juventus, put it succinctly on Sunday night. Recalling how Rafael Benitez's side had eliminated Juventus at the quarter-final stage, he offered this preview of tomorrow night's final: "As a former Milan player and coach, I hope Milan beat Liverpool, but I think it's going to be a very, very difficult game. Liverpool are awkward customers, they're a team that don't come out to play, rather they come out looking to stop the other team playing."
Sounds like a pretty good description of Helenio Herrera's Inter Milan side on the eve of that historic Lisbon night in 1967 when Glasgow Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup when beating dourly defensive Inter 2-1.
Of course, Liverpool could completely defy their "defensive" label tomorrow night. Benitez has already worked miracles to get his side to this stage - win or lose, he surely deserves the European Coach of the Year award. Who knows, perhaps Benitez can magically pull an attacking, creative Liverpool out of his top hat.
Given the significance of the occasion, too, it seems hard to imagine Liverpool will adopt the negative tactics that marked all but 10 minutes of their semi-final ties against Chelsea, and all but half an hour of their quarter-final clash with Juventus. Surely, somehow, the ghosts of glorious Liverpool's past will move the men in red to bolder things?
No one at Milanello will be complaining if Liverpool do adopt the sort of tactics used against Juventus and Chelsea.
The one thing guaranteed to rattle Milan is a team that comes out, all guns firing and ready to run at them for 90 minutes. Barcelona in the group phase and PSV Eindhoven in the semi-final games proved beyond doubt when a side takes the game to Milan they are in trouble.
The strength of this Milan side is its ability to play a possession game in which the technique of Andrea Pirlo, Kaka and Clarence Seedorf enables them to knock the ball around at will in midfield, controlling the languid pace of the game and waiting for the moment to pounce. If you do not allow Milan time or space to play this game, and if you man-mark Pirlo (as PSV did) Milan are in difficulty.
If Liverpool adopt a cautious approach Milan are likely to blossom. If there is one thing familiar to a top-class Serie A side, it is having to make the running and take the game to a defensively oriented opponent.
The fact Milan have manifested all too obvious signs of physical exhaustion over the last month only underlines how vulnerable they might become in a game played at a high tempo.
It remains to be seen if they have recovered their physical freshness. It also remains to see just what Liverpool's tactical approach will be. A fascinating night's football awaits us.
