A mixture of the present and past could be on show at Anfield this Saturday, with misfiring Mario Balotelli potentially facing Emile Heskey in the FA Cup fourth round.
This is the kind of game that could get the much-maligned Balotelli a goal or two to finally get him firing in a Liverpool shirt, while home fans are likely to give Heskey a warm reception despite memories of his frustrating spell with the Reds.
Unless Brendan Rodgers has completely written Balotelli off and is not counting on him to play any kind of significant role between now and May, the Italian should be involved.
Heskey, meanwhile, will sympathise with the profligate striker's predicament at Liverpool as he was once in the same position. Heskey was one of the most infuriating and frustrating players to have played for the Reds in recent years, so Balotelli has company in that regard. On his day he was absolutely unstoppable and he had everything he needed to be one of the best strikers in the world. Well, maybe not quite everything -- as he would then actually have been one of the best strikers in the world and not the figure of ridicule he would eventually become, somewhat unfairly.
The goals dried up for Heskey after a fine season in 2000-01 and a succession of managers for club and country used him in wide areas with more emphasis on what he provided defensively than in attack. It shouldn't have come to that, Heskey really should have been one of the most feared forwards in football. He should have been the player that Didier Drogba became.
Drogba was not that player in his early career but he blossomed into a world-class performer and is still playing at the top level now, having re-joined Chelsea at 36. Heskey's career path was more or less the exact opposite -- he was frighteningly good in his early 20s but at 36 he was signing for a Championship club having spent the previous couple of years playing in Australia.
In his early days at Anfield, Heskey was quick, strong as a bull, could shoot with either foot and when he was in the mood, he was impossible to stop. In his first couple of seasons he was tremendous, but he was unable to show that form consistently and his final few years at the club were bitterly disappointing. After leaving Merseyside, his career just went into a slow decline. He seemed to lack that competitive gene that separates talented players from great ones, but on the days when he turned it on, he was scary.
He did play a big part in Liverpool's memorable cup treble of 2001 and he can be assured of a good reception from the Kop if he's involved on Saturday.
The visit of Heskey and Bolton is an intriguing subplot in what is a big week for Liverpool. Chelsea and a second leg clash at Stamford Bridge is on the horizon as Rodgers plots a route to Wembley for the Capital One Cup final and as such, his team selection could raise a few eyebrows.
The game will certainly hold no fear for the visitors -- all the pressure is on Rodgers' men. Bolton have no expectations of winning the trophy and can treat this as a day out, give it their best shot and just see what happens. That makes them dangerous opponents and they have a good recent record at Anfield in cup competitions, having won there twice in the Premier League era. One of those victories came in an FA Cup replay in 1993 and remains one of Liverpool's most humiliating losses of recent times.
It's hard to believe that embarrassing 2-0 defeat was 22 years ago and many fans will tell you they cannot remember Anfield being that angry before or since. Graeme Souness survived 12 more months as Liverpool manager before another embarrassing cup upset, this time at the hands of Bristol City, finally put paid to his turbulent time in the hot seat.
Liverpool exacted some revenge for that loss by beating Bolton in the 1995 League Cup final. Steve McManaman found the net twice in a 2-1 win to give Roy Evans what would turn out to be his only trophy as Liverpool boss.
Bolton's fortunes improved dramatically over the next decade as they gained promotion to the top flight in 2001 and hung around for almost a dozen years, often getting under the skin of the top clubs and bringing in the kind of big-name foreign players that they would not have even dreamed of a few years earlier.
Three of those imports helped them to another cup victory at Anfield in December 2003. Mario Jardel, Jay Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff got the goals as Bolton edged a 3-2 thriller on their way to reaching another League Cup final.
Such is the rollercoaster nature of football, the team that arrives with Heskey in the squad will be unrecognisable to the Bolton side that upset so many Premier League heavyweights during their time in the top flight.
It's the FA Cup, though, with a romantic script never too far away. While Heskey has rightly grabbed the focus in the lead up to this one, Liverpool and Rodgers need to do a professional job ahead of a testing week. And if you really want romance, how about Balotelli finding the net ...