'Reds will be hungry for more'
Phil Neal is predicting the FA Cup semi-final with Everton will be an occasion to savour for all concerned – but believes Liverpool's players will hold a hunger to taste success once more following their Carling Cup triumph.
The Reds and Blues will go head-to-head at Wembley on April 14 to contest a place in the Cup final.
Kenny Dalglish's side have already put a trophy in the cabinet this season, and the club's most decorated player insists the feeling of winning silverware can spur players on in their quest for further medals.
"It's going to be very special," Neal told Liverpoolfc.tv. "It will be the biggest derby of some of their careers.
"Liverpool have already been down to Wembley and won a cup. They will have enjoyed that and will want more and more of it in the future.
"Now they've got something similar coming up against our local rivals in a semi-final.
"I lost in a couple of semi-finals and, for me, to get that far and then lose is worse than losing in a final."
Liverpool have completed a Barclays Premier League double over Everton this season.
After goals from Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez secure a 2-0 win at Goodison Park in October, Steven Gerrard fired an historic hat-trick in a 3-0 Anfield success earlier this month.
However, Neal doesn't think those results will impact upon the Reds' thinking too much in the lead up to the semi-final.
He said: "We're going to play Everton after a 3-0 win here at Anfield recently.
"Steven scored at the right times at Anfield to really kill the Blues off in that game.
"It's (league double) a good advantage to have, as long as you don't think you can go into the game and cruise through it - but there's no way that will happen. Kenny will know that and so will all the players."
"A solid defence and maybe a goal by a player who maybe doesn't normally score could be key to another win. It could be that, or it could be another hat-trick from Steven Gerrard - I hope it is!"
Neal has experience of facing Everton in an FA Cup semi-final, and also at Wembley.
The former defender, who chalked up 650 games for the club, was on target in a 3-0 last-four Cup replay in 1977, while he also played in the League Cup final against the Blues at Wembley in 1984.
Liverpool needed a Maine Road replay to lift the trophy, but the memory of the two teams together at Wembley remains one of Neal's fondest of his career.
"I particularly remember 1984 because it was a very special occasion when both of us appeared at Wembley together," he said. "What I remember most about that League Cup final is that the Reds and Blues weren't segregated and it was magnificent.
"I swapped shirts with John Bailey at the end, the game went to a replay and we had another go at Man City. I managed to make a goal for Graeme Souness that won us the cup again.
"It's a great memory and I still have the photo of the two teams together at the end of the (first) game.
"The Reds and Blues sat alongside each other and it led to a fantastic atmosphere. Although it was a draw, I'll never ever forget it.
"It made you think, 'We can go to Wembley together and represent this magnificent city' and we both did that."