YNWA takes a look back at our previous visitors from Italy as we prepare for our final pre-season friendly on Friday by entertaining S.S. Lazio for the second time.

Previously against the biancocelesti
Our friendly with S.S. Lazio at Anfield in July 2002 was the first time a Premiership team had shown an entire match live on the internet. We lost the game 1-0, but the Kop was impressed by one of our new signings, French midfielder Bruno Cheyrou.

Other Italian friendlies in L4
We defeated Internazionale 2-1 at Anfield to claim the pre-season Pirelli Cup in August 1998. Ex-Inter player Paul Ince and Steve Harkness netted that day. Michael Owen grabbed a brace, including a penalty, with Dietmar Hamann, Nick Barmby and Gary McAllister also netting as we thumped Parma 5-0 two years later.

Inter in Europe
We played in our first European Semi-final in May 1965, defeating European Cup holders Internazionale 3-1 in the first leg at Anfield, with goals from Roger Hunt, Ian Callaghan and Ian St. John, although a strike from Chris Lawler, who had got married only the day before, was ruled off for a debatable offside. The crowd crowed "Oh Inter 1-2-3, go back to Italy!" Unfortunately, Inter's away goal, scored by Alessandro Mazzola, would eventually prove crucial. Bill Shankly's first master-stroke of the night was to send the injured Gerry Byrne and Gordon Milne out before the game with the recently-claimed FA Cup to whip the crowd up into a frenzy. We then suffered our first ever defeat in Europe's premier competition eight days later, as we lost 3-0 in Milan, with the result surrounded in controversy.

We also faced the nerazzurri last February, winning the first leg of our Champions League round of sixteen 2-0 thanks to two late strikes from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard, who was notching in his fifth consecutive game in Europe, a joint club record and new record in a single season. Ex-Toffee Marco Materazzi was sent off for the visitors in what was our hundredth home win in Europe.

Entertaining Juve
We beat Juventus 2-0 in the second leg of the preliminary round of the European Cup Winners' Cup at Anfield in September 1965 thanks to goals from Chris Lawler and Geoff Strong, having lost the first meeting 1-0. We went all the way to the final that season, our only appearance in the final in that competition.

We beat the Serie A champions elect 2-1 in the first leg of our Champions League Quarter-final clash in L4 in April 2005. Sami Hyypiä struck a delightful volley from a corner before Luis García's wonder strike put us two ahead at the break. Scott Carson let in a goal from Fabio Cannavaro to give the Italians hope, although we held firm in the Stadio delle Alpi to reach the Semi-finals for the first time in twenty years.

The club honoured the memory of the 39 victims of Heysel with a number of commemorative gestures in the lead-up to the match, including a fans match at the Academy and a Kop mosaic, while a banner carrying the theme ‘In Memoria e Amicizia' was carried by Phil Neal and Michel Platini, captains back in 1985, from the Kop to the away end prior to kick-off.

Roma in town
A famous night in Anfield history came back in March 2002 as we defeated Roma 2-0 to qualify for the Quarter-finals of the Champions League in our first season in the current format of the competition. Jari Litmanen's penalty and an Emile Heskey header ensured we did not miss the injured Michael Owen or suspended Didi Hamann. The night was made complete by the emotional return of Gérard Houllier to Anfield after heart surgery.

We had also hosted the giallorossi thirteen months earlier, in an amazing UEFA Cup Fourth Round match that we lost 1-0, although we still progressed to the Quarter-finals in a cauldron of noise. Michael Owen missed his fifth penalty in eleven attempts, and who could forget the penalty/corner incident when the ball struck Markus Babbel in the area? Fortunately, Spanish referee Jose Maria Garcia Aranda made the right decision!

Our other Italian visitors
We crashed out of the UEFA Cup at the Fourth Round stage in March 1992, losing 2-1 to Genoa to bow out 4-1 overall. Ian Rush bagged our goal with Mark Wright being taken off with a torn hamstring after just seventeen minutes.