Group C - Letzigrund Stadium, Zurich
Italy 1
Panucci 56
Romania 1
Mutu 55

Gianluigi Buffon saved an 81st-minute penalty by Adrian Mutu to earn world champions Italy a 1-1 draw with Romania in a Euro 2008 thriller yesterday.

Striker Mutu put Romania ahead 10 minutes into the second half when he pounced on Gianluca Zambrotta's poor back header. But Italy levelled immediately as Christian Panucci prodded the ball over the line following a Giorgio Chiellini header.

Italy, humbled 3-0 by Netherlands in their opening Group C game on Monday, will feel hard done by after striker Luca Toni had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside before the interval.

He powerfully headed in from close range and television replays showed he was clearly behind the last defender when Zambrotta played the ball into the packed box.

"Today we deserved to win but luck didn't accompany us," said Italy coach Roberto Donadoni.

"Zambrotta played a great match and that incident (back header) doesn't cancel that out."

Italy, who have only one point and anxiously await the meeting with France next Tuesday, made five changes with Alessandro Del Piero coming in and captaining the side.

They also switched to a 4-3-1-2 formation from 4-3-3 and were much more vibrant, creating several chances in the air as they tried to boost their flagging hopes of reaching the last eight.

Del Piero failed to connect properly with an early close-range header before strike partner Toni nodded wide from left-back Fabio Grosso's centre.

Toni then had another header superbly pushed away by Romania goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont, who also did well to deny Italy in a penalty-box scramble.

Romania had their share of first-half chances with Cristian Chivu hitting the post from a free-kick which deflected off defender Panucci.

Mutu had a shot saved by Buffon after beating Italy's offside trap while the keeper was also forced into a smart stop from Gabriel Tamas's fierce free-kick from distance.

Romania midfielder Mirel Radoi was taken off on a stretcher after a clash of heads with team-mate Razvan Rat in the 23rd minute.

Defender Dorin Goian was also booked and will miss their final group game with the Dutch on Tuesday.

Italy
G. Buffon; G. Zambrotta, G. Chiellini, C. Panucci, F. Grosso; D. De Rossi, A. Pirlo, S. Perrotta (A. Cassano 57); M. Camoranesi (M. Ambrosini 85), A. Del Piero (F. Quagliarella 77); L. Toni.

Romania
B. Lobont; C. Contra, D. Goian, G. Tamas, R. Rat; C. Chivu, P. Codrea, M. Radoi (N. Dica 25), F. Petre (B. Nicolita 59); A. Mutu (R. Cocis 88), D. Niculae.

Referee: Tom Henning Ovrebo (Norway).

Missed penalty: Mutu (R) 81.