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Buffon saves Italy from Zurich exit

13/06/2008

A penalty save from Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon kept the world champions in Euro 2008 as they drew 1-1 with Romania in Zurich.

The underdogs could have pulled off an upset after going ahead in the 55th minute but Christian Panucci equalised for Italy barely two minutes later, before the penalty drama unfolded with less than ten minutes to go.

Group C now focuses on Holland's clash with France later this evening, with the former looking for a win to guarantee their safe passage through to the knockout stages.

This evening's game began well for Italy, but the Azzurri were unable to produce a goal throughout a first half dominated by their possession.

Regular crosses into the goal were denied by a combination of Romanian persistence in defence and Italian bad luck. Nowhere was this more the case on the stroke of half-time when Luca Toni headed an Italian corner into the back of the net. Replays showed both he and Alessandro del Piero were clearly onside, despite the linesman thinking otherwise.

The game was not all one way, however, as Romania also had their chances of scoring. A long-range effort from Christian Chivu took a deflection off Christian Panucci on to the far post after 20 minutes, while three headers on goal for Toni within the space of a minute around the 40-minute mark kept Bogdan Lobont busy.

After the break the game struggled to reach the fast-paced tempo of the opening 45 minutes. But that all ended after ten minutes of play, when a terrible mistake from Gianluca Zambrotta handed Romania the lead. His weak attempt to head a diagonal ball to Lobont was pounced upon by Adrian Mutu who had run round on the blind side and got to the ball before the keeper. His rising shot only just scraped in under the bar.

Italy were stunned by the prospect of a sudden exit from the competition but responded immediately, winning a corner. A corner to the far post was headed down by Giorgio Chiellini to Panucci, who was unmarked on the goal line and finished easily.

The Azzurri were rejuvenated by the shock of going behind and looked threatening in the remainder of the game. Another Toni header was only just kept out by a brilliant reaction save from Lobont, who was also kept on his toes by defender Cosmin Contra chesting the ball to him from three yards.

With the game entering its final stages Daniel Niculae was pulled down by Panucci in the area. Mutu stepped up but his powerful effort was too close to centre on the left. Buffon, diving full to the right, was forced to readjust and managed to connect with his right hand to keep Italy alive.

Toni went down at the other end in an attempt to win his own side a spot-kick, but the referee was unimpressed and the game ended at 1-1.