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Incredible never-before-seen footage of one of the greatest night's in Liverpool 's history has emerged online.

Tuesday 4 May 1965 is date forever etched into Anfield folklore - the night the FA Cup was finally paraded at the ground for the first time after victory at Wembley the previous Saturday, ahead of the humbling of world and European champions Internazionale of Milan in the first leg of the European Cup semi final.

Students of LFC history will be familiar with the black and white tv coverage of the match in existence which features the iconic rendition of 'Go back to Italy' by the Kop to the then-popular tune of Santa Lucia.

Now colour footage - converted from an 8mm cine camera taken by ex-Liverpool player Tom Bush, who played 69 games for the club in a war-disrupted career between 1933 and 1947 - has been released by Tom's son Alan to The Unofficial Liverpool Football Club Museum , a superb Facebook page specialising in archive gems from the Reds' unparalleled history.

(Image: The Unofficial Liverpool Football Club Museum) (Image: The Unofficial Liverpool Football Club Museum)

Alan told the ECHO: "Father was then the youth team coach (amongst other duties) and told Bill Shankly after winning the cup final it was the best day in his career, since Roger Hunt, Ian Callaghan, Gerry Byrne, Tommy Lawrence, Tommy Smith and Chris Lawler had all come through the junior ranks, something which would not happen today.

"Father knew in advance the FA Cup would be paraded before the match as it had been discussed inside the club. Hence he took his cine camera and we have this moment captured on film."

Anfield has of course seen many famous European occasions but the Inter match is so revered because it was the night which set the tone and laid the foundations for much of the success which was to follow.

Inter had won their first European Cup under the 'catenaccio' (blanket defence) tactics of Argentine coach Helenio Herrera the previous season and, having beaten Independiente of Argentina to lift the Intercontinental Cup, were favourites to retain the trophy with the 1965 final due to be played in their own San Siro stadium in Milan.

Bill Shankly's Liverpool were an emerging force however, having won the league championship in 1964 only two seasons after promotion from the Second Division, and in the club's first ever season of European competition, they had seen off Rekjavic of Iceland, Anderlecht of Belgium and Cologne of Germany (by virtue of the toss of a coin following a play-off in Rotterdam after two draws) to reach the semi finals, as they aimed to become the first British team to be crowned champions of Europe.

Four days before Inter were due to Anfield for the first leg of the semi final, Shankly's Reds broke new ground by winning the FA Cup for the first time in the club's 73-year history, overcoming Leeds United 2-1 after extra time at Wembley, to leave Anfield a cauldron of jubilant excitement by the time the Italians arrived on the Tuesday evening for what at the time would have been the biggest match ever played on the ground.

Sharing the converted cine footage on his Unofficial Liverpool Football Club Museum page , Jim Donnelly explained: "This is special, very special. For over 50 years it has been in a box, unseen.

"It is a home video, in colour, filmed on 8mm cine film by ex-Liverpool player Tom Bush from May 4th 1965.

"Tom attended the match three days after us winning our first FA cup at Wembley.

"We faced the coiffured Italians, Inter Milan, in the first leg of that notorious semi-final in our maiden European campaign.

"The game has descended into our history and remains there with an almost mythical glow about it.

"Anfield was their Colosseum that night and Shankly wanted them to feel it.

"In a tactical masterstroke, he sends Gordon Milne and the injured gladiator, Gerry Byrne, to parade the cup in a clockwise procession towards the packed Kop.

"From his seat in the Main Stand, Tom captures the warm up and parade by Milne and Byrne as well as some snippets of the match itself.

"Amazingly, no part of the Anfield you see in the film exists anymore.

"The film is short, grainy with poor lighting and no sound but I tell you what… the FA Cup is gleaming!

"For those of us who were not there it brings it slightly more to life.

"For those of us who were, I hope it revives the memories.

"Of all the places you would like to have been in our in our history, this must be in most people’s top 5.

"Sit back, relax and drink in 2 minutes 30 seconds of pure iconic history, in colour.

"(Sincere thanks to Alan Bush, son of Tom, who has very generously sent us the cine film and allowed us to get it converted to be put on here)."

(Image: LFC History)

Liverpool capitalised on the febrile pre-match atmosphere by taking an early lead through Roger Hunt's instinctive volley and, though a Ron Yeats error soon enabled Sandro Mazzola to equalise, a smartly-worked Ian Callaghan free-kick and close-range Ian St John effort secured a 3-1 first leg advantage to take to Italy for the return, which would have been greater had a first half Chris Lawler effort not harshly been disallowed for offside.

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History records that was not to be enough as a contentious 3-0 defeat in Italy eight days later saw Inter to progress to the final (where they beat Benfica 1-0) amid allegations of corruption, with Argentinian referee Jose Maria Ortiz de Mendibil and Inter themselves later implicated in allegations of bribery.

Bill Shankly, who had retired as manager by the time Liverpool eventually did lift the European Cup in 1977, said: “Inter beat us 3-0 but not even their players enjoyed the game, and we didn’t think two of the goals were legal. They put an indirect free-kick straight into the net for the first, and the ball was kicked out of Tommy Lawrence’s hand for the second.

“Afterwards, the people were sweeping the streets with enormous flags and I said to our players, ‘all right, we’ve lost, but see what you have done.

"Inter Milan are the unofficial champions of the world and all these people are going mad because they are so pleased that they have beaten Liverpool. That’s the standard you have raised yourselves up to.'”

Shankly and his men shrugged off their disappointment to regain their league title the following season, winning their first European title - the EUFA Cup - in 1973 as the most sustained period of success in the club's history began to take root but those four days in May 1965 are seen as many as the making of the modern Liverpool.

This unearthed film footage gives a tantalising glimpse into such a halcyon period and, as former ECHO journalist Hyder Jawad commented on The Unofficial Liverpool Football Club Museum's post : "This is historic stuff and a find of archaeological proportions. Incredible."