Veteran New York Times columnist George Vecsey was on hand at Boston's Fenway Park for Wednesday's exhibition game between Roma and Liverpool that the Italian club won, 2-1, after opening the scoring with a strike by American midfielder Michael Bradley.

Tickets were going for an average of $110, with seats atop the scoreboard going for more than $400 and standing room at $70, according to SeatGeek, the Web ticket service. The crowd of 37,169 saw Bradley score from 15 yards in the 63rd minute. Alessando Florenzi scored in the 69th minute for Roma, and Charlie Adam scored in the 80th minute for Liverpool.

Liverpool is owned by the Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox and eagerly arranged for Wednesday’s game with Roma, itself owned by Americans -- Tom DiBenedetto and James Pallotta as well as the Boston Celtics’ Kevin Garnett.

"It’s a historic club playing in a historic venue against another historic club,” said John Henry, the principal owner of the Fenway group. “While it’s purely an exhibition, it’s still something very special.”