AS Roma will meet Sporting Clube de Portugal in a friendly match on August 1 at the Estádio José Alvalade.
The game will be the Giallorossi’s first high-profile friendly in Europe this summer after a tour of Australia and Indonesia that will take in matches against Real Madrid and Manchester City in Melbourne.
The hosts, 18-time Portuguese national champions, finished third last season to qualify for the Champions League play-offs. They also won the Portuguese Cup for the 16th time in their history.
Roma and Sporting have previously met twice in competitive action, with both matches coming during the group stage of the 2007-08 Champions League.
It finished 2-1 at the Olimpico with goals from Juan, Liedson and Mirko Vucinic whilst the Giallorossi earned a precious 2-2 draw in the game in Lisbon. Marco Cassetti opened the scoring before Liedson turned the match on its head with a double strike. Then, in the 90th minute, David Pizarro’s equalizer proved an important step towards Roma qualifying for the last 16.
The teams have also played each other in three friendlies, all of which came during the 1960s. In August 1961, Roma beat Sporting 6-2, with five goals from Pedro Manfredini and one from Antonio Angelillo. A year later, the two teams were paired in a tournament in Malaga, the Copa del Sol. It finished 2-2 in normal time before the Portuguese team won a penalty shoot-out match to determine which team played next in the tournament. The only other meeting came in August 1964, a match Sporting won 3-1.
Stay tuned to asroma.it in the coming days for further announcements about Roma’s pre-season schedule.
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