"During the next decade, clubs from the two countries traded blows quite evenly. In 1965, Liverpool and Cologne contested a truly epic European Cup quarterfinal. Two scoreless draws necessitated a one-game playoff staged in Rotterdam. On a muddy pitch, Ian St. John and Roger Hunt gave the Reds a 2-0 lead, but Karl-Heinz Thielen pulled one back with a header from a free kick and then Hannes Lohr tied the game with a shot from more than 20 yards. Fifteen minutes from time, Heinz Hornig scored another goal for Cologne, but it was disallowed for a supposed Thielen foul in the build-up. Television replays strongly suggested the decision was wrong.

This was the famous game in which Wolfgang Weber broke his calf bone after 20 minutes in a collision with Gordon Milne, didn't realise the severity of his injury and battled on -- through regulation time and, incredibly, also extra time. In those days before penalty shootouts, Weber then could do nothing else but watch -- in both mental and physical pain, one presumes -- as Belgian referee Robert Schaut tossed a coin to decide the tie. It landed sideways in the mud. Schaut tossed it again, and when Weber saw Liverpool captain Ron Yeats leaping into the air he knew his team were out of the competition."

Uli Hesse recounts the history of the rivalry between English and German club sides in European competition in his excellent piece for ESPN FC.

This week's Champions League fixtures pin England versus Germany three times. Dortmund and Arsenal square off at the Westfalenstadion today, the fifth time the clubs have met in the last three years, while tomorrow Manchester City travel to Munich to face Bayern and Chelsea host Schalke.