Soon after he had helped Liverpool to win a First Division and European Cup double in 1977, Kevin Keegan - a scorer of 100 goals for the Reds - departed the Merseysiders to join German outfit Hamburg.
As fate would have it, it was not long before the centre-forward returned to Anfield with his new club, who had earned the right to face the English outfit in the European Super Cup thanks to their 2-0 triumph over defending champions Anderlecht in the Cup Winners' Cup final.
A David Fairclough goal earned Liverpool a 1-1 draw from a tightly-contested first leg at the Volksparkstadion and when the two sides met again in England for the return clash 38 years ago today, a similar encounter was anticipated.
Yet, from the moment that centre-back Phil Thompson turned in Steve Heighway's corner to break the deadlock in the 21st minute, Keegan and Hamburg were never in contention on what ended up being a famous victory for Bob Paisley's men.
Midfielder Terry McDermott made it 2-0 five minutes before the break when his chest control inside the penalty area allowed him to fire the bouncing ball beyond a helpless Rudi Kargus in the Hamburg net.
McDermott went on to complete his hat-trick with two goals 60 seconds apart after the restart, the first of which he arrowed into the top corner from 20 yards out in the 55th minute. Then, moments later he latched onto Ray Kennedy's through pass and then slotted his shot inside Kargus's near post.
The tide was then stemmed by the visitors until four minutes from time when Fairclough got in on the act again. On this occasion the striker rose highest to glance in Jimmy Case's cross from the right flank.
The final say in the 88th minute went to Kenny Dalglish, who had been signed from Celtic to replace the anonymous Keegan. This time Kargus was able to thwart Fairclough from close range, but Liverpool's new number seven was on hand to fire in the rebound.
But, there was no denying who the evening belonged to - hat-trick hero McDermott, who recalled recently: "Someone was injured, I think it may have been Ian Callaghan.
"I was moved in rather than be out wide on the right. I scored a hat-trick and I always remember John Toshack saying: 'That's your position'. I got the confidence from John Toshack saying a thing like that. He probably won't remember, but I do."
Liam Apicella
