Under Wayne Rooney, Plymouth Argyle seemed as far away from the magic of the FA Cup as possible - a run of one win in 14 games saw the legendary striker sacked in December, and Plymouth's misfortune continued into January under interim coach Kevin Nancekivell.
This was a team bottom of the Championship -- and sure new boss Miron Muslic had made a good impression -- but when the team who had conceded the most goals in England's top four divisions rocked up at home against the best team in the world, all signs pointed to a Liverpool victory.
This was as hard a test for someone seven years into his managerial career, but Muslic has faced worse - as a nine-year-old, his family had to flee Bosnia during the war and become refugees in Austria. In a foreign country speaking a language he didn't know; Muslic spoke the universal language of football.
He was far more fluent in English when he gave his first team-talk in charge of Plymouth, but Muslic spoke right to the hearts of his players (and the 3.7 million who saw the clip online).
The 1-0 win over Liverpool, the win over the best team in the world? This was born there; this is what Muslic said: "There are moments in life, and moments on the football pitch when the pressure is on. People just disappear, hide. Passion, togetherness, conviction - these will be the ingredients we need to face the challenges in front of us. No doubt, it's gonna be f***ing hard, no problem. Aggressive, intense, brave - these are our core principles - day in, day out. These are not ingredients to win a beauty contest, but a football game. Regardless of who faces us - it will be hard, it will be annoying, to play against us."
Plymouth proved to be annoying, hard to play against, as the might of Liverpool's attack failed to breach them. Arne Slot watched on in frustration as one of the coaches he'd inspired with his Feyenoord team had an answer for all of Liverpool's questions. Instead, it was Plymouth who were posing the queries, and they had the opportunity to ask the toughest of all when Harvey Elliot conceded a penalty early in the second half with a comical handball that looked more at home in the LA Lakers rather than Liverpool.
Ryan Hardie stepped up and sent Hope Park into absolute raptures with a confidently struck penalty. 1-0 to Plymouth, 37 minutes to go. The worst defence in England vs the best attack in England. This was going to be hard.
"We're going to face this with big heart, with conviction, with courage and everything will be fine."
Nikola Katic and Maksym Talovierov then lead a rearguard action that proved that Muslic's words in his first team-talk with the team had taken root. All of Plymouth's team threw themselves into tackles, blocks with their body on the line, as they completely shut down Liverpool. Katic even lost a tooth.
Still, as much as words can inspire, Liverpool's quality was always going to shine through. Everyone within Hope Park knew a chance for the Premier League leaders was coming, which made the nine minutes of added time even more excruciating.
Up stepped Conor Hazard in the Plymouth goal.
Three minutes into injury time, Diogo Jota sent a volley destined for the top-left corner, but Hazard stretched out to make a great save. Plymouth had survived that chance... but with seconds to go, they conceded a free kick on their left wing.
Liverpool threw everyone forward. Konstantinos Tsimikas sent the delivery deep into the box. Plymouth had packed the box, heading the ball away from danger, but Liverpool defender James McConnell had pulled away. He stooped low to head the clearance back across the box, and almost in slow motion, the stadium watched in horror as Darwin Nunez climbed high, the looped ball destined for his head.
Only yards out, Nunez looked certain to score, and Hazard had to rely on all the hard yards in the training ground. He darted across the box to get to Nunez's effort and stretched out his palm to tip the ball over the bar at the last, last moment.
The final whistle blew soon after, capping off one of the best moments in FA Cup history. To most, this was the 'magic of the FA cup', but as Conor Hazard said after the game, 'That's my job.'
For that save, for embodying his manager's words, for his interview after the match, Conor Hazard takes our Moment of the Week.