One of the most exciting things about the opening day of any season is the prospect of seeing new faces line up for the team - and Liverpool were treated to six debutants against Sheffield Wednesday in 1999.
Gerard Houllier had been on a summer spending spree and the Reds arrived for their trip to Sheffield Wednesday with half a team of big-money signings.
There was a debut goal for Titi Camara as he scored Liverpool’s second in a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday, having lashed home the rebound from a Robbie Fowler effort from distance.
Vladimir Smicer also started his Liverpool career with an assist, supplying Fowler with a pass from the edge of the box, before the local lad curled the ball into the far corner.
However, the Czech midfielder should have added his name to the scoresheet, having seen a shot cleared off the line in the first-half.
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Some memorable players took to the field for the first time at Hillsborough that day, as well as some more lowkey names - but where are they now?
Sander Westerveld
The goalkeeper was signed from Vitesse for £4m but could do nothing to stop an impressive consolation goal from Benito Carbone.
Westerveld, then aged 24, established himself as the Reds’ number one, playing 36 league games in his first season. He played a key role in the 2001 treble-winning side the following year, most notably saving the decisive penalty in the League Cup Final.
Sold to Real Sociedad later that year, after Houllier brought in Jerzy Dudek and Chris Kirkland, he had a brief loan spell with Everton in 2006, before retiring with South African side Ajax Cape Town in 2013, where he became a goalkeeping coach.
Westerveld has also worked as a football agent and pundit in the Netherlands.
Sami Hyypia
Having gone on to captain Liverpool the following season as the Reds picked up their trophy haul, it’s fair to say that the £2.6m Houllier paid to sign him from Willem II was money well-spent.
Part of the Liverpool team on that historic night in Istanbul, Hyypia left the club in 2009, after a decade at Anfield, having made 464 appearances.
Retiring at Bayer Leverkusen in 2011, he returned to manage the club until 2014. A six-month spell at Brighton followed, before spending a year as head coach of FC Zurich.
Hyypia was most recently appointed assistant manager to former Spurs midfielder Teemu Tainio at Finnish side FC Haka in September 2020.
Vladimir Smicer
Smicer was another Kop hero that played his first game at Hillsborough, with his debut assist a sign of the success the winger would go on to have with the club.
Signed from Lens for £4.2m, Smicer’s final contribution in a Liverpool shirt was converting a penalty in the Champions League Final shootout against AC Milan, after his long-range goal had ramped up the Reds' second-half comeback.
Retiring at Slavia Prague in 2009, Smicer became sports manager of the Czech FA for four years, before briefly running as a political candidate.
Now living in Prague, five minutes away from former Liverpool team-mate Patrik Berger, he opened the Dancing House Hotel in 2017 and still plays in exhibition games.
Titi Camara
Although his stay at Anfield may have been short and sweet, Camara got his Liverpool career off to the dream start as he rewarded Houllier's faith with a winner in Liverpool's season-opener against Sheffield Wednesday.
His first campaign with the Reds saw him notch 10 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions as he helped secure a fourth-place finish - before the days of four English clubs competing in the Champions League, a finish that would place Houllier's men on UEFA Cup duty for the 2000/2001 season and that turned out alright didn't it....
Camara struggled in his second season at Liverpool as he failed to yield the same results as his first, with the Guinean appearing to fall out of favour under the Reds' French boss.
A subsequent move to Harry Redknapp's West Ham didn't prove to blossom in the way either party had hoped for. As Camara failed to score for the Irons during his two-and-a-half-year spell in London, before jetting off to Saudi Arabia on a loan in a deal with Al-Ittihad.
Further stints in Qatar and France followed before Camara called it a day on his playing career, before trying his hand in management with Guinea's national team in 2009.
Didi Hamann
Hamann would enjoy an illustrious career at Anfield as he helped the Reds claim nine trophies during his seven-year spell at the club.
However, his debut appearance in Yorkshire would see him rupture ligaments in his ankle, forcing him to endure a far from ideal start to life on Merseyside as he was sidelined for seven weeks.
Signed from Newcastle United in the summer of '99, Hamann would be one of the picks of Houllier's buys that summer as he became an instrumental figure in Liverpool's success of the early 2000s, racking up 283 appearances for the club before his departure to Man City, via Bolton, in 2006.
The crowning moment of his Anfield career came as he replaced Steven Finnan at halftime in Istanbul as his introduction spurred Rafa Benitez's side to European Cup glory.
His departure from Anfield at the age of 32 sparked one of the weirdest transfer tales ever, as he agreed on a deal with Bolton upon the expiration of his Liverpool deal.
However, no sooner after joining the club had he swiftly changed his mind on his pre-signed deal, Hamann joined Manchester City no more than 24 hours after joining Bolton, costing the Citizens £400,000.
Since unwinding from the game, the German has had stints in coaching with both MK Dons and Leicester City.
Erik Meijer
One of Houllier's last familiar signings from the summer of 1999. The Dutch forward was introduced to the travelling Kop as a substitute in Yorkshire as Liverpool got their season off to the perfect start.
His introduction would encapsulate the tale of his Liverpool career to come as he was summoned onto the field for a bit-part role with just over sixty seconds remaining on the clock.
The towering striker only managed to find the net twice during his 13-month stay on Merseyside, as he was forced to compete with Liverpool's newest mega-money man, Emile Heskey, from the spring of 2000 onwards.
After leaving Liverpool, Meijer enjoyed a spell in Germany with Hamburg and it was during his time in Germany that he cemented his status as an Anfield cult hero, with the Dutchman being spotted mixing with Reds fans ahead of the club's 2001 UEFA Cup final in Dortmund against Alaves.
Dubbed as 'mad Erik' his name is certainly still murmured on the Anfield terraces amongst some of the more experienced Kopites.
