As the international break took hold, the ageing heroes returned to Anfield in their hoards as Steven Gerrard thrashed home a last-gasp winner to secure Liverpool Legends a 3-2 victory over AC Milan Glorie.
The game, played with intent, albeit half-speed, started as a stroll for Kenny Dalglish's side, with cumbersome poacher Robbie Fowler giving Liverpool the lead with a wonderful flick off the outside of the boot.
Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen and Djibril Cisse all returned for the Reds, and it was the latter who stretched Liverpool's lead to two on the stroke of half-time, breezing past the 52-year-old Alessandro Costacurta before calmly slotting past Dida in the Milan goal.
But then it was the turn of a legend-inundated Milan side, featuring Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, Cafu and Gennaro Gattuso, to prance on the stage. After Kaka was scythed down by Daniel Agger on the edge of the box, Pirlo nonchalantly swept a free-kick up and over the wall with little more than a shrug of the shoulders.
Then, with just three minutes remaining, Giuseppe Pancaro curled a deft finish from the edge of the box into the top corner to put the game on tenterhooks.
But, as if scripted by the Kop crowd themselves, Gerrard stormed through the centre of the pitch as the seconds ticked down, shirked off the challenges of two defenders, and drove the ball into the net off the inside of the post. A fitting end to a sun-blushed afternoon touched by fading stardust.
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