The 2017/18 UEFA Champions League has reached the semi-final stage and the teams know they are just two games away from the final in Ukraine.
The first semi-final takes place on Tuesday night and the first leg of Liverpool vs Roma will be played at Anfield. This is the first time since 2006/07 Liverpool have reached this stage of the competition and they went on to lose in the final. Jurgen Klopp will be hoping to go one better in this campaign.
Roma have been a regular in the Champions League over the years but have never reached the semi-final of the competition in the current format. The only time they have made the final was in the years of the European Cup and they lost to Liverpool in the 1983/84 final.
Liverpool come into this match on the back of a 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League. Having taken the lead against the basement club, Liverpool conceded two goals late in the game to gift the hosts a point.
However, home form is very good and trends show Liverpool are unbeaten in their last seven home matches in all competitions, winning five of the last six. The most impressive of those wins came against Manchester City in the Champions League and Liverpool blew the Premier League winners away in the first half.
Klopp will be hoping for more of the same in this match as Liverpool aim to build a lead to take with them to Rome for the second leg.
Roma picked up a comfortable 3 points at SPAL on Friday and have enjoyed an extra day of preparation for this game. They currently sit in the third place in Serie A but there is all to play for in terms of Champions League qualifying for next season.
Given the performance of Liverpool in the previous round, Roma know they must be at their best in this game and produce something like their home leg against Barcelona in the previous round. Roma were 4-1 down from the first leg but delivered a stunning comeback to win the second leg at home 3-0 and qualify for the semi-final.
Trends show Roma are unbeaten in their last four games in all competitions, winning three of them but have lost each of their last three on the road in the Champions League. In fact, Roma have won just one of their last fifteen away Champions League games and that was at Qarabag.
Team news and Liverpool have Jordan Henderson available and the Englishman should start in midfield. Adam Lallana, Emre Can and Joel Matip are injured and will miss out, with Dejan Lovren expected to start in place of the latter.
Roma will travel without the injured duo of Rick Karsdorp and Gregoire Defrel but will be close to full strength for this match. Aleksandar Kolarov, Alessandro Florenzi, Daniele De Rossi and Edin Dzeko should start having been rested on the weekend.
Liverpool will be very confident following their win over Manchester City in the quarter-final and Roma’s record on the road in the Champions League is poor. However, having scored a crucial goal in the Camp Nou in the previous round, the Italians may lose but could find the back of the net to set things up nicely for the second leg.