Bologna are preparing for the daunting prospect of facing Liverpool in the Champions League tonight under the bright lights of Anfield.
The Serie A side played out a 0-0 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk in their first-ever Champions League game in close to 50 years last month.
Bologna have made a slow start to their season in Italy, winning just one of their opening six league games but they are up against a Liverpool side that are flying at the moment.
The Reds are sitting at the top of the Premier League table after winning five of their opening six Premier League games and have emerged as real title contenders in England despite doubts about their team.
They also swatted aside AC Milan away from home in their first Champions League game and are heavy favourites to beat the European novices in Bologna.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Bologna players were greeted by their former teammate Joshua Zirkzee in their hotel in Liverpool on Tuesday night.
The Manchester United man travelled to Liverpool to meet his former teammates
Zirkzee played a pivotal role in helping Bologna to qualify for the Champions League last season but left the club to move to the Premier League in the summer.
Manchester United brought him to the northwest of England where he is still trying to find his feet and has scored just once in the Premier League so far.
The Dutchman took permission from the Red Devils to make the 35-mile trip from Manchester to Liverpool to meet his former teammates on Tuesday night.
When he moved in the summer, the striker didn’t get a chance to say a proper goodbye to the Bologna players and took up the opportunity to meet them in Liverpool.
The striker hugged and chatted away with the Bologna players until 10:30 in the night before he returned to his home in Manchester.
Zirkzee also wished his former team good luck as they prepare for their first Champions League away game since the preliminary stages of the 1964/65 edition of the old European Cup.
