Last time Liverpool faced off against Roma in the United States, the match ended 2-1 in favor of the Giallorossi, with goals from Michael Bradley and Alessandro Florenzi giving the captial club a two goal advantage before Charlie Adam's late strike. Interestingly, two out of the three goalscorers on that night--Bradley and Adam--now are no longer with their respective clubs and now ply their trades with Toronto and Stoke City.
In any case, both clubs finished as runners up in their leagues and will be making a return to the Champions League after a long hiatus, but first up on the menu is getting prepared for their domestic and continental campaigns through a series of matches. This will be the first real test for both Brendan Rodgers and Rudi Garcia's men as they kick start their overseas tour, certainly something much to the delight of their United States-based supporters.
Both teams have made quite a few signings this summer, with Roma bringing veteran defender Ashley Cole from Chelsea, utility man Urby Emmanuelson from Milan and young Argentine playmaker Juan Iturbe from Verona for a bit more than £17 million.
Liverpool, for their part, have been equally busy, with QPR's Loic Remy coming on the heels of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Emre Can, and Lazar Markovic all joining up. And that is not mentioning other additions, including Croatia's Dejan Lovren and young Belgian talent Divock Origi.
Following this match, the Reds will face off against more Italian opposition with Milan, as well as fellow Premier League side Manchester City and Greek outfit Olympiakos. For the Giallorossi, their American tour will include games against Manchester United, Inter Milan and Real Madrid to complete a quartet of fixtures against European opposition.
For both fans and neutrals alike, given the quality of both sides, hopefully all will be in for an exciting clash. There have been quite a few surprises so far for many of Europe's bigger teams during their pre-season friendlies, with lower division sides several times causing an upset against the likes of PSG and even Liverpool.
Well, neither of these teams can be described as provincial outfits, and hence will represent a great chance for both Liverpool and Roma to really test themselves against the kind of squads they will undoubtedly face during their return to the continental front in this season's Champions League.
Watch Liverpool vs Roma live on Wednesday, July 23, 2014:
In the US at 19.30 EST on: Mun2, NBCSN, NBC Sports Live Extra
In the UK at 00.30 BST (Thursday) on: BT Sport 1
In Australia at on 09.30 (Thursday): Fox Sports Play, Fox Sports 3 Australia
For complete details of match listings and live scores, visit the Liverpool vs Roma match page.
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