Although they won the League championship here in 1986, this corner of west London has been one of Liverpool's bogey grounds. Since a 5-2 victory there in December 1989, they have made 20 further journeys to Stamford Bridge and managed one win, forged by the improbable figure of Bruno Cheyrou, one of the least impressive players Gerard Houllier brought to Anfield.
In the circumstances, the 0-0 draw Liverpool forced in the 2005 semi-final first leg ranks as almost better than the 1-0 victory on Merseyside that took them to Istanbul.
"Sincerely, there is nothing about the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge that intimidates us," Xabi Alonso said. "There is not. I don't know why we haven't had good results in the past."
The Liverpool midfielder did not play in that second leg at Anfield because of suspension, and the suspicion on Merseyside has always been that Eidur Gudjohnsen made too much of the tackle that earned the Basque a yellow card.
"It's true that we have beaten them a few times but I don't know if we really know how to control them," Alonso said. "We must try to improve on recent performances at Stamford Bridge to go through. But two years ago we eliminated them in the Champions League semi-finals and beat them in the FA Cup semi-finals, so we are confident.
"We won't be defensive at Stamford Bridge - we need to score in the first leg to make the second one easier. A goal or two in London will give us the spirit and confidence that we need."
His manager, Rafael Benitez, would be happy with one. Since Cheyrou's goal in January 2004, Liverpool have spent more than 500 minutes trying in vain to force an opening at Stamford Bridge.
After they disposed of PSV Eindhoven without appearing to break sweat earlier this month, Liverpool seemed favourites for the competition in a way they never were in 2005 until Andrei Shevchenko saw his penalty saved in the shoot-out in Istanbul.
And yet, to win a sixth European Cup Liverpool may have to overcome two sides, Chelsea and AC Milan, who have very pointed reasons to seek revenge and perhaps another in Manchester United, against whom they appear to have a mental block under Benitez.
"Jose Mourinho has said things about Luis Garcia's goal again, but we don't mind," Alonso remarked, referring to what the Chelsea manager calls the "ghost goal" that denied him a second successive European Cup final.
"He can do whatever he wants, only he knows," Alonso continued. "We pay attention to what's happening on the pitch. At the time, Chelsea had sour grapes, I'm sure of that.
"Up to now, having a big second leg at Anfield has been an advantage to us. We have defeated Barcelona and PSV after playing the second leg at home. I think it would be very important to score in London to finish the job at Anfield again.
"I'm sure our supporters will be by our side because they know the meaning of success in the European Cup."