With Liverpool preparing to do battle with West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday, one could not be faulted for immediately thinking back to perhaps the most famous meeting between these two clubs.
I am of course talking about the 2006 FA Cup Final classic that saw several memorable moments throughout.
Today, we are going to take a little trip down memory lane and look back at this instant classic and how things went down. Hopefully, some of the magic from that day carries over into Sunday's fixture.
The Buildup
Entering the 2006 final, Liverpool had 6 triumphs and 6 defeats in the FA Cup Final. Not exactly the thorough dominance one might have expected at the time. It had been five years since the Reds had lifted the famous old trophy.
Rafa Benitez's men had triumphed over bitter rivals Manchester United in the 5th round before they knocked out a rising Chelsea side in the semifinals.
The win over United was a tough 1-0 battle that saw Peter Crouch score the winning goal for Liverpool to help them through. They held on to beat Chelsea 2-1, despite a late goal making things a bit more interesting down the stretch.
The Hammers' biggest win on their way to the Final was a defeat of Manchester City on their ground in the Quarterfinal.
Liverpool came into this match on the back of a 3rd placed finish in the league while West Ham were firmly in the midtable, finishing 9th.
Wembley was not the site for this classic, as it was still undergoing renovations. Instead, the Final took place in Cardiff at Millennium Stadium. This was Liverpool's 62nd match of the season having begun playing way back in the summer in the UCL 1st qualifying round.
Matchday Questions
Benitez would be without club legend Robbie Fowler as he had participated in the competition earlier in the season while playing with Manchester City.
Liverpool's Starting XI for this match featured: Pepe Reina, Steve Finnan. Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, John Arne Riise, Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Harry Kewell, Djibril Cisse, Peter Crouch and Mohamed Sissoko.
Interestingly, West Ham featured two future Liverpool players in their XI in the form of Paul Konchesky (Joined LFC in 2010) and Yossi Benayoun (Joined LFC in 2007).
The Assistant Referee for the match needed to be replaced the day of the match after he awoke with an ear infection.
While Alan Wiley became the first referee to manage both an FA Cup Final and League Cup Final in the same season.
The Match
Now, we get to the good stuff. It was an electric atmosphere on this beautiful May day as both sides were afforded wonderful weather to compete in.
West Ham went ahead through a Carragher own goal in the 21st minute as the Reds legend became the sixth player to be credited with an own goal in a FA Cup Final.
The Hammers had a 2-0 lead shortly after that as Dean Ashton put them ahead and they began dreaming big. However, as we saw in the Champions League Final the previous season, there was no quit in this Liverpool team.
They pulled their first goal back through a stunning volley from Cisse in the 32nd minute that restored belief this fixture was far from over.
West Ham held a 2-1 halftime lead ensuring the second half would be one of tense action and heartstopping moments. And, boy did one man deliver on that. Steven Gerrard made the second 45 his own.
Pepe Reina made a pair of sterling saves from Anton Ferdinand and Benayoun early in the second frame to keep things close before Gerrard went to work.
Our Captain would tie the match as he stroked home a fine finish from a Crouch headed assist. At 2-2, with 30 minutes left, there was everything to play for. Players were snapping into tackles, shots were fizzed and the tension rose several notches.
Crunch Time
Konchesky would stem the Liverpool momentum as his cross just past the hour mark kept sailing right into the netting as he put the Hammers back in front.
As the match moved towards the final 10 minutes of normal time, West Ham began clogging the midfield in an attempt to hold off the Reds from gathering anything from the likes of Gerrard or Alonso.
As we all know, this plan failed. In stoppage time, it was Riise that pushed forward only to see his ball cleared out to Gerrard from 35 yards who smacked the screamer we still can't get enough of today.
With that, the 2006 FA Cup Final went to extra time deadlocked at 3-3. The extra frame saw numerous players struggling to maintain the high levels we had seen as they were physically and emotionally spent.
Just before the 120th minute, West Ham won a free-kick that saw them find Nigel Reo-Coker with a glorious chance to be a hero, only to be denied by a stunning Reina save to preserve the tie.
With that, the Final went to penalties. It was not the cleanest of shootouts but Dietmar Hamman, Gerrard and Riise scored from the spot for Liverpool. It was Reina who was the hero as he saved penalties from Zamora, Konchesky AND Ferdinand to secure a 3-1 shootout win and the FA Cup.