Atalanta caused a major surprise by reaching the last 16 of the competition with an impressive 3-0 victory over Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk helped them snatch second spot in Group C behind Manchester City.
Atalanta's own ground in the city of Bergamo was deemed inadequate for Champions League football after they finished third in Serie A last season to earn a first crack at the competition.
So the club that former Socceroos midfielder turned agent Vince Grella rates as one of the best run and most progressive in Italy was forced to play its home matches at the 'San Siro' stadium, which is an hour away by train.
Current Serie A leaders Internazionale crashed out of the elite competition on Wednesday after losing 2-1 to Barcelona but Atalanta's unlikely win means the historic ground will host at least one more big match in Europe this season.
The Orobici's progression to the knockout phase is nothing short of remarkable. Suffice to say that after three match days the star-struck team were sitting at the bottom of the group with three defeats.
Yet it was ironically the crushing 5-1 defeat at Manchester City on match day three that may have recharged their campaign.
Players who took part in that mismatch have since said that they treated the result as a reality check that made them realise how far they needed to improve in order to survive at the highest level.
Captain Alejandro Gomez, the midfielder who makes Atalanta tick, and his men took it upon themselves to show that they were a better team than the results were suggesting.
Their response was fantastic. A deserved home 1-1 draw against City on match day four gave them the confidence they needed to play to their potential and they duly went on to beat Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar to squeeze through against the odds.
Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta are a 'team' in the truest sense. They are a multi-functional set of players who play a modern game without the bells and whistles you'd expect from more famous clubs but with a commendable drive that has now been rewarded with a place among Europe's elite.
The eight goals they scored on their way to the round of 16 have come from seven scorers, which is a fair indication of how the team operates.
Holders Liverpool, like Atalanta, were unsure of qualification when they went into match day six but, unlike Atalanta, they go into any match with the spotlight and pressure well and truly on them.
Jurgen Klopp's Reds, who won the 2019 title with a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid, were expected to seal a spot in the knockout stage before their last group match, as most of the continent's big guns did.
However they left no doubt about their formidablel strength with a competent display in midweek when they accounted for Salzburg 2-0 with a team goal from Naby Keita and an outrageous effort from Mohamed Salah who found the net from an 'impossible' angle.
Liverpool have a home league game against Watford on Saturday and an away League Cup tie against Aston Villa on Wednesday before they play in this year's FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.
Liverpool will pick an under-23 side for the Villa game that takes place a day before they play their CWC semi-final against a yet to be determined opponent.
Klopp's men have a point to prove and an old score to settle in the Gulf.
Liverpool have yet to taste intercontinental glory which is why they have picked their strongest squad for their sixth attempt to conquer the world.
They forfeited the chance to win the title after they won their first European Cup in 1977, claiming a pile-up of fixtures. Beaten finalists Borussia Monchengladbach took their place and lost to Argentina's Boca Juniors over two legs.
A year later, with relations between Europe and South America at rock bottom after a series of violent encounters in the intercontinental clashes, the Reds did not test themselves against Boca after the two clubs declined to play each other.
Three European Cup wins in 1981, 1984 and 2005 pitted Liverpool against Flamengo, Independiente and Sao Paulo in one-off finals but each time the South American clubs prevailed.
Liverpool will be mindful of a 3-0 thrashing they got from Flamengo when Zico's boys ran riot in 1981 and will seek revenge.
Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro's biggest club, won the 2019 Copa Libertadores with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Argentina's River Plate in Lima.
Flamengo and Liverpool enter the CWC at the semi-final stage and are expected to clash in the final on Sunday, December 22.
Champions League Round of 16 line-up
Group winners: Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Liverpool, Barcelona, RB Leipzig, Valencia.
Group runners-up: Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Chelsea.
