Sam Beukema speaks for just under half an hour - and not once does the smile disappear from his face. It's easy to understand why, of course. On Wednesday, he's likely to line out at Anfield for the first time as a player, with Bologna taking on Liverpool at one of the most famous venues in football.

Beukema still can't quite get his head around it. He was on FaceTime with team-mates Lewis Ferguson and Dan Ndoye when the draw for this season's Champions League was made back in August, and they knew because of the nature of the new format that they were guaranteed to face one big, Pot One team away from home.

"But when we got Liverpool at Anfield, we were all like, 'This is going to be so cool!'" he tells in an exclusive interview. "I've only been there once before as a kid with (current Netherlands international) Tijjani Reijnders, as we were playing together in the Twente youth team at the time.

"The club brought the whole squad to a Europa League game against Zenit (in 2013) and Luis Suarez scored twice. Hearing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' before the game was so impressive and the atmosphere was amazing right until the end. It was a great experience, so going there now with Bologna is going to be magical no matter what happens."

'Meant to be'

The Rossoblu's mere presence in the Champions League is unquestionably the stuff of fairy tales. They are the provincial club that stunned the world by finishing fifth in Serie A last season to qualify for the European Cup for the first time since 1965, when they were eliminated in the preliminary round in their one and only previous appearance in the competition.

Nobody at Bologna ever thought such a thing possible. Even when Beukema first spoke with Marco Di Vaio before joining the club from AZ Alkmaar last summer, the sporting director told him, "We have a project here. We want to work with young talents and take Bologna to another level, so that in a few years we can qualify for the Conference League." But, as Beukema is only so happy to point out, "We've ended up in the Champions League instead!"

Beukema had felt good about his move to Bologna from the get-go. His mother had lived in Riccione for 10 years, so he had plenty of fond memories of visiting the nearby coastal town.

"She never taught me Italian, though!" he says, feigning anger, "so, I had to learn that for myself! But I think I speak the language pretty well now and, besides, I always felt like I had a bit of a bond with Italy, and this region in particular.

"I'd never been to Bologna, but when I arrived last year, I thought it was such a beautiful city. The people are so nice, and then you have the food and the weather! So, overall, I think it's a really great place to play football.

"Also, years ago, I had a very good season at my first club, Go Ahead Eagles, and I chose to move to AZ. But Bologna was interested as well. I said no, though, because I preferred to take the next step in the Netherlands, as that also meant playing in the Conference League with AZ. So, when Bologna called again last year, they had to pay more money to sign me, so they were pretending to be upset with me, joking, 'We told you that you should have come three years ago!' So, it was quite funny in that sense - maybe it was just meant to be."