TONIGHT, in a town not one of Liverpool's squad bad heard of before last month's draw, Britain's most successful footballing export are due to step back on to the European Cup Winners' Cup trail.
It is a trophy that has never found its way to the Anfield trophy cabinet they lost the 1966 final to Borussia Dortmund - an omission from the club's curriculum vitae made all the more irritating by Everton's success in the competition 11 years ago.
Beneath grey skies Liverpool's arrival in this sleepy, run of the papermill Finnish town went all but unnoticed. Once the players had been reassured that the cockroaches they encountered in Vladikavkaz 12 months ago were not in attendance, the talk turned to why Anjal Ankoski's football team goes by the name of MyPa-47.
In truth, it should not really matter because by Liverpool standards tonight's opponents are strictly second class.
Naturally, the manager Roy Evans was at pains to remind everybody that MyPa-47 dumped Motherwell out of the UEFA Cup on away goals last season and that Liverpool's last visit to Finland, five years ago, had ended in second leg defeat by Kuusysi Lahti.
"I would like to believe that my players are professional enough to go into every individual fixture without a hint of complacency," said Evans. "We just cannot afford to disregard the opposition because their past results suggest they know what they are doing."
They may well do but it will not stop Evans naming an adventurous starting line up in the hope of plundering a precious away goal. "These days, scoring on your opponents' ground is so very vital," he added.
Curiously, although his side is one of only three in the Premiership to have negotiated the season's opening five games without defeat, Evans is feeling the pressure.
Earlier this week he took the highly unusual step of barring the Liverpool Echo newspaper's reporters from the club's training ground.
The reason? The Saturday football pink edition had the temerity to print two letters criticising Evans's perceived tactical naivety. The two parties have since kissed and made up.
Although Jamie Redknapp is almost ready to launch a senior comeback after injuring himself against Scotland in Euro96, Evans seems likely to stick with the men who did little to impress in defeating Southampton 2-1 on Saturday.
"We haven't been fantastic so far; we have been grinding out results," conceded Evans.
Before a crowd of just 4,000 in the tiny Saviniemi Statium MyPa47 would settle for that tonight.
"Liverpool are so well known in Finland they will probably have more supporters here than we do," said MyPa's coach Harri Kampman.
One of those supporters could be facing Liverpool. Mypa-47 striker John Allen (31) was born in Chester and used to stand on the Kop when he was a kid. He has spent the last 10 years in Finland.
Another English player in the Finnish side is David Moore, who was released by Aston Villa in the summer after playing 12 reserve games last season. He has been handed the daunting role of trying to keep Stan Collymore and Robbie Fowler in check.
The UEFA mandarins must have seriously considered renaming this tournament the Cup Losers' Cup for 13 entrants - including Liverpool - qualified by finishing as runners up in their respective knockout competitions.
