After all, the Dutchman marked the occasion by helping his then-new club to a remarkable 5-0 win over FC Porto at Estadio do Dragao in the Round of 16 a year ago.
A quirk of circumstance means that the same opponents await the Reds in this season’s quarter-finals, with the first leg taking place at Anfield on Tuesday.
Van Dijk, though, is not anticipating a similarly one-sided outcome this time around.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult anyway,” the centre-back told Liverpoolfc.com, when asked whether last term’s result may make this tie trickier due to the added motivation it could provide to Porto.