Italy vs. Romania: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Friendly

Romania showed a flair for the dramatic in their international friendly against Italy on Tuesday, as Florin Andone's 88th-minute goal stole a 2-2 result for the country despite the Italians dominating throughout.

Bogdan Stancu also scored for Romania in the first half, but when second-half tallies from Claudio Marchisio and Manolo Gabbiadini gave the Italians the lead, it looked as if they would finish the match with a hard-earned win.

Despite Italy's utter dominance in the first half, it was Romania that registered the game's first goal in the eighth minute, though some sloppy play from the Italian defense played a role. 

Romania broke on the counter, though it appeared the Italian defense snuffed out a wayward through ball and quelled the danger. But somehow, two Italian defenders managed to misplay the ball and Stancu took possession before quickly curling a lovely shot into the bottom-right corner past a diving Gianluigi Buffon.

While it was a well-taken effort, Sheridan Bird of the Mirror felt that Buffon perhaps could have made the save:

From there, Italy would go on to control the half, holding 62 percent of possession, outshooting the Romanians 8-3 and earning five corners to just one for Romania. The Italians couldn't find the equaliser in the first 45, however. 

That first half likely served as fuel for the Antonio Conte detractors, though the Italian coach's defenders were vocal as well.

"I know for some this is another opportunity to take shots at Conte, but tonight is par for the course for an Italy friendly performance," tweeted David Amoyal of ESPN FC, before adding, "I'll judge Conte by how Italy does in Euro 2016, the team qualified unbeaten after a truly disastrous World Cup."

George Rinaldi of the Football Italia honed in on the performances of a few players, meanwhile:

It wouldn't take Italy long to pull even in the second half, however, as Eder was taken down in the penalty box by Dragos Grigore in the 54th minute. From there, Marchisio stepped up to the spot and calmly sent Ciprian Tatarusanu the wrong way, slotting into the top-right corner to equalise for Italy.

Marchisio wasn't done there. Just 11 minutes later, his fantastic cross in the box to Gabbiadini led to Italy's second goal, as the forward was unmarked and easily headed the pass into the right corner. It appeared initially as though Gabbiadini was offside, but replay would show he was in fact onside by a hair.

It was a good response from the Italians after their early deficit, as Adam Digby of FourFourTwo.com noted:

There would be no victors in this one, however. The Romanians earned a free kick in the 88th minute and the ball was perfectly curled into the box. Salvatore Sirigu made a nice initial save on a Romanian header but couldn't hold onto the ball and Andone beat the Italian defense to the rebound, easily slotting home the equaliser.

It was a disappointing result for Italy, but one the country will soon enough forget as it prepares for Euro 2016. For Romania, meanwhile, the result was an encouraging sign in their preparations for the tournament.

Post-Match Reaction

Conte was not pleased with the result after the match, as he told Italian sports TV channel Rai Sport (via Football Italia):

"

Italy were tense at the start because we conceded so early and then as time wore on shook it off. I am convinced the lads gave their all, played with intensity, tempo and everything needed to win.

It’s a shame, as when you play like this with this intensity and creating so many chances, you have to win. I was already angry with the result in Belgium, so once again we failed to get the result we deserved. Hopefully it can be a learning experience.

"

Defender Giorgio Chiellini mostly agreed with that sentiment.

"We’re getting closer to Euro 2016 and had hoped to do better in these two friendlies, not so much for the performances as a few details," he told Rai Sport (via Football Italia). "We’re talking about good performances, but with these results that all becomes relative. We need to whittle down some of the mistakes.”

If nothing else, the Italians were uniform in their reactions to the result.

“We’re disappointed as the two games were in my view positive, above all in Belgium and the second half today,” Riccardo Montolivo added, per Rai Sport (via Football Italia). “We conceded avoidable goals with distractions and that is something we need to work on.”

Even in a friendly, these are the types of matches Italy are expected to win. Romania deserve credit, however, as they made the most of their opportunities and recovered well after giving up two quick goals in the second half. While Italy have some issues to clean up in the coming months, Romania have shown they can hang with the big boys.