Cristiano Lucarelli scored on his international debut as 10-man Italy drew 1-1 with Serbia and Montenegro. The Livorno striker, Serie A’s top scorer, came off the bench to net the Azzurri a late equaliser in Toronto, after Manuele Blasi was dismissed in the first half of what should have been a friendly.

Boss Marcello Lippi fielded another experimental line-up, with a host of his best players left behind in the peninsula after a long hard season. That inevitably saw the Italians take longer to settle against a Serbia side whose players were showing greater technical ability.

Lecce striker Mirko Vucinic set up the first chance of the game but Zigic’s shot on 12 minutes was comfortably handled by Angelo Peruzzi in the Italian goal. The Lazio ‘keeper then stopped a Vucinic effort, after the youngster controlled a Vukcevic cross.

The Azzurri were clearly struggling, after only landing in Canada 24 hours previously, and it was no surprise when Serbia took the lead on 25 minutes. Zigic was found by Vukcevic to coolly slot past Peruzzi to make it 1-0.

Things went from bad to worse soon after when Blasi saw red. The Juventus midfielder, who was also booked early on, was dismissed for a kick on Vukcevic. That forced Lippi to bring off the attacking Mauro Esposito and sacrifice him for Giandomenico Mesto – who became the first Reggina player to appear for La Nazionale.

Italy risked going two down when Peruzzi said no to Vucinic before they created their first real chance in injury time. A splendid Oddo free-kick found the head of Zaccardo, but the Palermo defender’s effort sailed just over the bar.

Lippi made a host of changes after the half-time oranges, bringing on Grosso, Coppola and Lucarelli. The latter made an instant impact when he tested ‘keeper Kovacevic with a 52nd minute drive from outside of the area.

Yet it was Italy’s No 1 who was called into action next to deny Vukcevic. Peruzzi was then left thanking the post on 70 minutes after Zigic was unfortunate to not make it 2-0. Italy were by now desperately seeking an equaliser and almost did with Barone but his shot was parried.

Udinese’s David Di Michele had a golden opportunity on 75 minutes but his diagonal effort was superbly saved. The goal finally arrived in the 83rd minute. Grosso entered the penalty area on the left to deliver a perfect cross for Lucarelli to divert into the goal.

Italy end their North American tour on Saturday against Ecuador in New York.

Italy: Peruzzi; Oddo (Grosso 46), Zaccardo, Barzagli, Chiellini (Brienza 64); Esposito (Mesto 35), Barone, Blasi, Mauri (Coppola 46); Toni (C. Lucarelli 46), Iaquinta (Di Michele 67).

Serbia: Kovacevic; Djordjevic (Koroman 81), Dudic, Basa (Ivanovic 77); Rncic, Maric, Brnovic, Mladenovic (Trajkovic 57); Vukcevic; Zigic, Vucinic (Jestrovic 81).

Ref: Depiero (Can)

Sent off: Blasi 31 (I)