CAGLIARI came from two goals down to grab a last-gasp point and deny Roma the chance of moving up to third in Serie A.
David Pizarro and Simone Perrotta had put the Giallorossi on course for all three points with goals in the second half but not long after Luca Toni came on to make his Roma debut, Cagliari responded to clinch an unexpected point.
Diego Lopez scored in the 90th minute before Daniele Conti completed the comeback deep in stoppage time to earn the Sardinians a point.
Toni was left on the bench by Roma coach Claudio Ranieri, who preferred Julio Baptista in his attack from the beginning, forcing the on-loan Bayern Munich striker to wait for his official return to Serie A.
Not that he would have seen much of the ball in the first half anyway as Cagliari held possession deep in the Roma half, with Andrea Lazzari causing problems.
The Giallorossi had goalkeeper Julio Sergio to thank for keeping them in a game that could have been over by the interval.
Lazzari’s first chance came in the 22nd minute when he shot wide with only Julio Sergio to beat.
The Cagliari midfielder did find the target in the 35th minute but Julio Sergio pulled off a fine save to deny him.
And the Roma goalkeeper made another stunning stop to deny Andrea Cossu minutes later as he prevented the visitors from falling behind for at least the third time.
Ranieri must have found the right words during the break as his side emerged with a much more positive attitude.
And they went ahead in the 52nd minute when Alessandro Agostini felled Mirko Vucinic inside the penalty area and Pizarro despatched the spot-kick.
Perrotta doubled Roma’s lead in the 65th minute when he picked up the ball from Rodrigo Taddei and beat Federico Marchetti.
Toni made his entrance with 10 minutes to go but any thoughts Roma had done enough to win the game and move up to third were premature.
Cagliari recently came from two goals behind to lead Napoli 3-2 before conceding an equaliser deep into stoppage time and it was their turn to use the whole duration of the game to make a similar comeback.
Lopez grabbed what looked like a mere consolation as the game entered stoppage time, getting the telling touch to divert a corner beyond Julio Sergio.
And Conti equalised in the third minute of stoppage time, following in to place the loose ball into the back of the net after Julio Sergio had only parried Joaquin Larrivey’s volley.
Main topics: Italian Serie A
Sub topics: AS Roma, Cagliari, Daniele Conti, David Pizarro, Italian Serie A, Luca Toni, Match Report, Serie A 2009/10
