BT Sport will broadcast prestigious Liverpool FC pre-season fixtures including clashes with Celtic, Valerenga and Steven Gerrard’s testimonial.
The Reds take on the Scottish champions Celtic at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, August 10. Kick off is at 5pmand will be part of BT’s live football coverage.
BT Sport will also be showing live coverage of the Reds’ friendly against Valerenga at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo, Norway, on Wednesday, August 7. Kick off is at 6pm.
The exclusive live coverage means that BT Sport will be showing Liverpool’s last three pre-season friendlies, as the channels also have exclusive rights to Steven Gerrard’s testimonial against Olympiacos on Saturday, August 3 (kick off 12.45pm). BT Sport will also be showing the opening game of the Premier League season on Saturday, August 17when Liverpool FC take on Stoke City FC at 12.45pm.
Simon Green, director of BT Sport, said: “We’ve got a superb schedule of live Liverpool games in August, building from Steven Gerrard’s testimonial to the opening game of the Barclays Premier League season against Stoke, with two terrific friendlies in between.
“Fans of both clubs will be eager to enjoy Celtic versus Liverpool, which pitches two of the great European Cup holding teams together. These two clubs have not met for almost a decade, and it will be an emotional afternoon when it brings together the two teams. They played a memorial match in April 1989 to commemorate the 96 Liverpool fans who died at Hillsborough that month, and a deep mutual respect has developed ever since.”
Matthew Baxter, chief media officer at Liverpool FC, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with BT Sport for these pre-season fixtures. Through BT Sport we can reach those fans that couldn’t get to the sell out fixtures bringing them live coverage so they don’t miss a minute”.
Celtic and Liverpool last faced each other in a friendly in Connecticut, USA, in July 2004, when Liverpool won 5-1.Liverpool last played Valerenga in a friendly in August 2011, when the honours were even, with the game ending in an exciting 3-3 draw.
BT Sport will show 38 exclusively live football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the “top picks”, from August 2013 for three seasons. The channels will also show 25 live FA Cup ties a season for the next five seasons, UEFA Europa League matches, top tier live football from Scotland, Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Australia and the USA, plus action from the FA Women’s Super League and 30 live Football Conference matches from the Skrill Premier.