Liverpool's rerouted road to Paris starts at Anfield on Tuesday night.
While some optimistic fans - those who might reasonably describe themselves as being sensibly proactive - have been checking May's flight details to St Petersburg all season, the decision to move the Champions League final to the French capital last month means a more manageable pilgrimage to those dreaming of European Cup No.7 at Anfield.
There is plenty of football to be played before those whims become reality, but Liverpool look like a genuine European force this term.
After breezing through the supposed 'Group of Death' by becoming the first English team to win all six match-days by beating Porto, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan, the Reds have been galvanised since hitting a sticky patch in mid-December.
A Carabao Cup success came last week after a dramatic penalty shootout against Chelsea, and they are still in the hunt for the FA Cup and Premier League as they go chasing an unprecedented treble.
Jurgen Klopp is unlikely to place the three remaining competitions in any sort of priority list, but the club's deep-rooted affection with the European Cup is inescapable.
Six-time winners of club's football's most prestigious competition, Liverpool are well poised to reach the quarter-finals for the fourth successive campaign.
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A 2-0 lead in the first leg of their last-tie with Inter gives them a huge opportunity to reach the last eight once more as the Nerazzurri prepare to visit Anfield for the first time since 2008.
After back-to-back finals in 2018 and '19 were ended with 750,000 fans lining the city streets to celebrate Klopp's first trophy as manager in Madrid, an injury-free Liverpool once again look like one of the strongest in the competition.
"I see the Champions League as Liverpool's or Manchester City's," former Liverpool striker Michael Owen tells the ECHO. "You can make a case for someone like Chelsea or Bayern Munich, but I can't.
"City and Liverpool are the best two teams in the world by some stretch at the moment and I can't see any other team winning it.
"I can't believe that Liverpool, before they kicked off against Inter in the first leg, were third favourites.
"I've watched virtually all the Champions League this season, I have covered it for BT and I simply don't know how that can be.
"If they are not favourites, they should be second.
"You can make a case for Manchester City but Liverpool's pedigree over the years suggests that there is nothing between the two sides.
"Liverpool have had more success than Man City in Europe in recent years, so I would make the case that they are the favourites."
The win at the San Siro last month made it seven straight wins in the Champions League this season and the victory was one that showcased the full strength of the options Klopp has at his disposal right now.
With Inter pushing for the opening goal of a tight affair in Italy, the German shuffled his deck and sent on Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson and Luis Diaz.
Another substitute, Roberto Firmino, would break the deadlock before Mohamed Salah, arguably the world's best player right now, doubled the advantage late on.
Owen says: "Man City very much have strength in depth and if you look at Liverpool's squad, they have that strength in depth for the first time in a long, long time.
"I've always looked at Liverpool and thought that we rely on four or five absolutely world-class players and we could probably take three or four injuries.
"That is how I've viewed it in past years and now, we obviously don't want injuries to Fabinho, Van Dijk, Salah and Alisson, but now you look at it and think we've got more strength in depth than they have in a long time at the minute.
"Now, with Man City, they can still be pretty much the same team with injuries. Which is fine, they have invested a lot more to get to that stage, whereas Liverpool are more risk averse."
There is perhaps a underlying sense of unfinished business that lingers within this Liverpool squad where the Champions League is concerned.
The Reds had their grip on the trophy loosened by Atletico Madrid's teak tough defensive displays across two legs in February 2020.
The return leg, however - a 3-2 defeat that featured an inspired performance from goalkeeper Jan Oblak - is best remembered for its eerie, foreboding atmosphere brought on by a growing COVID-19 crisi that was just about to grip Europe and the rest of the world.
"It was the one game, when I thought about it later, which I never thought about like a football game," Klopp would later say.
Over a year later, Atletico's more decorated neighbours, Real Madrid, would knock out Liverpool in two behind-closed-doors games that saw the Reds line up without Joel Matip, Joe Gomez or Virgil van Dijk in defence for either leg.
Nat Phillips, who has since joined Championship side Bournemouth on loan, started at centre-back in Madrid with Ozan Kabak, a player whose short-term spell ended with Liverpool declining to sign him at half of his previously set £16m fee before he signed for Norwich.
It is why Liverpool may feel a more true representation of themselves will be forthcoming this year as they aim to eradicate the various emotions of the last two years of Champions League football.
"Last season, for example, showed how vulnerable Liverpool could be if all the cards fall in the wrong way," Owen says in an exclusive chat with the ECHO.
"But in any normal year, I don't think there's anything between the two teams even though they are made up differently,
"I don't quite know how and why Liverpool are seen as third favourites.
"Look at the Anfield factor now, that is massive. No other team in Europe has that factor and forgetting that, just the team alone is good enough to be just the toss of a coin between them and Manchester City."
BT Sport is the exclusive home of UEFA Champions League football. Watch Liverpool v Inter Milan on Tuesday 8 th March from 7pm live on BT Sport 2, online and on the BT Sport app. For more info, visit btsport.com
