'Rafa Benitez is just a fat Spanish waiter,' it read.
And Villa Park held its breath in anticipation.
The stage was set and the home crowd pumped up by the perceived injustice of Liverpool's summer-long pursuit of Gareth Barry, and the spat between Benitez and Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill.
Conditions were perfect for 90 minutes that should have been packed with incident following a summer of intrigue and back-biting.
Would the England international prove his £18million valuation? Could O'Neill exact his revenge for a summer of angst? Or would Benitez demonstrate just why it was that his club could still cherry-pick stars of a rival owned by an American billionaire prepared to spend now and never ask questions?
In the end, not one of the 41,647 who attended is any the clearer as to whether Villa can challenge the top four or if Liverpool can finally mount a title push.
If you were looking for controversy, there was little to chew over.
O'Neill and Benitez even shook hands before the start. It was a sign of things to come.
Barry was competent, but little more, as were most on view.
The commitment was present, certainly, but the heart-stopping moments were missing. Indeed, the important outcome was the extent of a hamstring injury that forced Fernando Torres' withdrawal before the half-hour.
Benitez said: 'I think it will be seven to 10 days, but we need a scan to make sure.'
In the absence of Steven Gerrard, Liverpool will hope to have Torres back to face Manchester United in two weeks' time.
As for the match, Benitez's tactics were spot on, a fact his opposite number was keen to acknowledge after the final whistle.
Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso sat in front of John Carew while Alvaro Arbeloa allowed Ashley Young little time to get going before he charged over to sniff out any danger.
Faced with such tactics, Villa were nullified.
With new signing James Milner likely to cause problems on the other flank in future, that will not always be the case, but they huffed and puffed to their first goalless draw in 16 months.
'I've just said to Ashley that Liverpool have paid him the biggest compliment so far,' said O'Neill.
'They sent their full back to get as close as possible to him and decided to stop the danger at source.
'The full back almost neglected his covering duties. It was as if the rest of the defence said: "Don't bother about us, just keep him in check".'
The one moment, a few minutes before the interval, when Young broke free of Arbeloa's shackles, Villa almost scored.
After Barry and Carew combined, the England international reached the by-line, pulled the ball back and Carew side-footed goalwards but Pepe Reina blocked with his feet.
Stiliyan Petrov fired wide and Milner struck a shot straight at the Liverpool goalkeeper but the hosts never truly looked like improving a wretched record against the visitors, having drawn four and lost six on their own patch since last beating the Anfield side.
Benitez will be the happier manager, although he was subjected to some abuse that was not particularly tasteful as the afternoon progressed.
The one real chance Liverpool created came 19 minutes from time.
Centre half Martin Laursen raced out of his slot and headed away, but the ball was swiftly chipped back over his head and Robbie Keane raced clear.
He dithered over his shot and Nigel Reo-Coker made up sufficient ground to throw himself into a tackle.
Though Keane was thrown to the ground, he had already fired off a weak effort which dribbled wide.
It was the one instant of possible controversy but referee Martin Atkinson, who must have been expecting a far more testing afternoon, ignored Keane's pleas for a penalty.
Benitez said: 'We were better in the second half and kept the ball well but we need to improve in the final third.
'The only positive news from the afternoon was the fact we have an international break. As far as Torres is concerned, we are hopeful it is not the worst for us but we will have to wait for the scan.'
Asked whether he was upset by the chanting, he replied: 'I saw a television programme the other day and they said the Birmingham accent is the most difficult to understand. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.'
'Fair enough,' replied the Brummie enquirer, 'I'm just happy you understood the question.
