Cesare Prandelli made numerous changes for this friendly in Austria, including the senior Italy debut for Andrea Ranocchia, Federico Balzaretti, Alessandro Diamanti and the 'Oriundo' Cristian Ledesma. Mario Balotelli, Alberto Aquilani and first time captain Giuseppe Rossi also returned. There were warnings before the game that the crowd would make racist boo noises when Balotelli or Ledesma got the ball and they were immediately evident in a stadium with only 5,000 people in it, among them only 100 who had travelled from Italy. It wasn't entirely clear if the chants were coming from the Italian fans or the Romanian ones. Diamanti hit an early free kick into the wall, then debutant Ranocchia did well to close down Stancu cleanly outside the box. In scenes that will worry Inter fans, Cristian Chivu pulled up with a muscular problem and limped off after just 15 minutes. He was replaced by Palermo defender Dorin Goian. Marica burst down the right past Leonardo Bonucci and pulled back from six yards, but defenders got in the way of the pass in a dangerous move. A weak Balotelli free kick was easy pickings for goalkeeper Pantilimon. The Manchester City striker did better when pouncing on a defensive error to smash his shot just over the bar from distance. A Torje cross was flicked away before it could reach the head of Marica. Soon after Torje was the first player booked for hacking down Balotelli in a very late and high tackle. Davide Santon timed his challenge perfectly to stop Marica running clear on goal as Romania broke on the counter from an Italy free kick. It was only a warning, as Romania took the lead on 33 minutes. Stefano Mauri gave the ball away and the ball was rolled to the D for a wayward Rat shot, but it ricocheted off Bonucci and turned into an assist for Marica to pounce, firing under the bar from seven yards. Diamanti's cross-shot from the left flank stung the goalkeeper's palms in the first real effort aimed at the Romanian net. On the stroke of half-time, Goian horribly scuffed his clearance from a corner so Ranocchia nodded wide under pressure. Balotelli gave a glimpse of what he can do, as he cut in from the left to squeeze between two defenders and hit a fierce low drive that the goalkeeper beat away with some difficulty between his hands and his stomach at the base of the near post. Prandelli made changes at half-time, as Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi and Alberto Gilardino replaced Ledesma, Diamanti and Rossi. Gilardino had a great chance within 200 seconds, gathering a long ball to hit the angled drive into the goalkeeper's chest. Moments later Gila hit the back of the net from eight yards on a De Rossi assist from the left flank, but he was flagged offside. Gila also fell soon after in a tussle with his marker, but the referee waved play on. Fabio Quagliarella and Mattia Cassani came on for Balotelli and Santon, but Romania threatened as Deac skipped past two players down the right to flash the ball across the six-yard box. Quagliarella attempted an overhead kick that went wide, while Tatarusanu gathered an Aquilani snapshot. Emiliano Viviano comfortably smothered a Tamas free kick. Bad news for the Azzurri, as substitute De Rossi limped off with what looked to be quite a serious groin strain to make way for Giampaolo Pazzini. Pirlo's free kick was fingertipped out from under the crossbar. From the resulting corner, Quagliarella got a glancing header at the near post, but it went in off Romanian forward Marica from six yards. Having equalised, Italy were now pouring forward in the final minutes and Quagliarella hit the side-netting, but at the other end Viviano caught a Florescu snapshot. |