Liverpool vs Roma. Friendly Match.
Busch Stadium.
Thursday 17 August 2023 12:27, UK
Goals from Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah gave Roma a 2-1 friendly win over Liverpool in St Louis on Monday night.
Former Manchester City striker Dzeko handed Roma the lead in the first half, firing home with his left foot from 20 yards, before Sheyi Ojo's simple header levelled things up on the stroke of half-time.
Roma regained their lead just after the hour mark through former Chelsea man Salah, who poked the ball over the line after Dzeko's header was saved by Simon Mignolet.
Liverpool are up against Barcelona next at Wembley on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 5pm, before concluding their pre-season with a clash against Mainz on Sunday.
Jurgen Klopp's side had conceded just once in their six pre-season outings before the clash at the Busch Stadium, and put out a strong side in St Louis including Gini Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane, Daniel Sturridge and Roberto Firmino.
It was a busy first half as veteran goalkeeper Alex Manninger was kept on his toes, tipping away Stephan El Shaarawy's effort from 20 yards before Dzeko poked the ball over from close range.
Dzeko again went close early on with a left-footed curling shot from inside the area having turned Dejan Lovren, while at the other end Sturridge was denied by Alisson having got one-on-one with the Brazilian goalkeeper.
Bosnian striker Dzeko got his goal on 29 minutes, taking the ball on his chest and shooting early past Manninger from 20 yards into the bottom right corner with his left foot.
Liverpool equalised just before the break through Ojo, who got on the end of Lovren's header across goal following James Milner's deep corner.
There was far less action in the second half, and Roma regained the lead on 62 minutes through Salah.
Despite saving well from Dzeko's point-blank header, substitute goalkeeper Mignolet got in a slight mix-up with defender Andre Wisdom as he was left off-balance, allowing the Egyptian to force the ball home from close range.
Mignolet did save well from Federico Ricci late one down to his left, before Alisson produced a fine stop to deny Danny Ings' close-range header from a Cameron Brannagan free-kick.
