Liverpool’s tour of the US continues on Monday night as they travel to St Louis to face Italian giants Roma.
The Reds will face the Serie A side at St Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium, less than 48 hours after beating AC Milan 2-0 in San Francisco.
With most of the squad having now returned following Euro 2016, Jurgen Klopp is expected to field a strong team once again in preparation for the visit to Arsenal in a fortnight.
Marko Grujic could return after missing the Milan win through injury, but Mamadou Sakho, Joe Gomez, Loris Karius and Joel Matip remain sidelined.
Roma – Opposition Watch
I Giallorossi go into this summer off the back of an impressive season that saw them finish 3rd in Serie A and reach the last 16 of the Champions League.
Led by Luciano Spalletti, the Stadio Olimpico side will be hoping to capatlize on major departures from Juventus and Napoli this pre-season to land a long overdue domestic league title, after 16 years without success.
Spalletti has been busy in the transfer market himself this summer, spending 37m euros on six new additions, including Germany international Antonio Rudiger, Milan’s Stephen El-Shaarawy and Brazilian goalkeeper Allison.
But the Italians have also had to deal with some significant losses from their squad aswell in recent weeks, with Miralen Pjanic, Adem Ljajic and Morgan de Sanctis and Seydou Doumbia amongst those to have left the club.
Their team still packs plenty of punch though, with former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko providing the main goalscoring threat, alongside one time Liverpool target Mo Salah and club legend Francescco Totti – now into his 27th year at the club.
In two friendlies this summer, Roma have won on both ocassions – beating non-league Pinzolo 16-0 then Russians Terek Grozny 3-2 – and they will be hoping for another positive result against the Reds having named a strong 30-man squad for the visit.
Previous Meetings
Monday night’s meeting won’t be the first time that the two sides have faced each other at a Baseball Stadium in the US, after Boston’s Fenway Park hosted pre-season friendlies in 2012 and 2014.
In the first encounter, Roma ran out 2-1 winners after goals from Michael Bradley and Allesandro Florenzi meant Charlie Adam’s late effort was nothing but a consolation.
Then two years later, the Italians were victorious again, this time by a 1-0 margin thanks to Marco Boriello’s late effort.
The last competitive meeting saw Liverpool run out 2-0 winners in a 2001/2002 Champions League match, with Jari Litmanen and Emile Heskey scoring.
Squads
Liverpool (from): Mignolet, Manninger, George; Clyne, Moreno, Flanagan, Randall, Klavan, Lovren, Wisdom, Alexander-Arnold; Can, Henderson, Milner, Stewart, Grujic, Brannagan, Ejaria, Lallana, Markovic; Mane, Coutinho, Ojo, Wijnaldum; Firmino, Ings, Sturridge, Benteke, Origi
Roma (from): Allison, Crisanto, Lobont, Romagnoli; Jesus, Emerson, De Santis, Gyomber, Manolas, Marchizza, Mario Rui, Seck, Torosidis, De Rossi, De Livio, D’Urso, Florenzi, Gerson, Nainggolan, Paredes, Strootman, Vainqueuer; Dzeko, El Shaarwary, Iturbe, Perotti, Ricci, Salah, Soleri, Totti.
