Goalkeeper Marco Amelia has sensationally kept Livorno’s UEFA Cup campaign alive by scoring a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Partizan Belgrade. The Amaranto’s European challenge had looked to be on the verge of collapse after a Nenad Mirosavljevic goal, but the ‘keeper went up for a late free-kick to amazingly head home.

Livorno went into the tie with the club’s President and Coach having differing views on the validity of the actual competition. After losing 3-2 to Rangers in the first group game and drawing with Empoli, chief Aldo Spinelli believes the tournament is actually affecting their Serie A results. “I want a team who can be competitive in the League – if the UEFA Cup is causing us to waste energy then that must change,” he said.

Arrigoni, the first man to Coach the club in Europe, hit back. “The UEFA Cup is an important competition,” he underlined. “We have a decent squad and I’m not going to Belgrade with the intention of losing.”

As if to underline that point, the former Cagliari boss opted to field a highly competitive starting XI which also included key striker and club captain Cristiano Lucarelli. However, the opening period was a low-key affair with few clear-cut chances at either end of the field.

On 10 minutes, Samuel Kuffour almost gifted the home side the lead when his back pass nearly presented Odita with the perfect assist until Amelia sprinted off his line to clear the ball. Partizan went close just a couple of minutes later when Marinkovic’s shot cleared the crossbar.

The Serbian outfit threatened for a third time on 32 minutes when Lazic headed towards goal, but the ball failed to pierce the back of the net. That scare seemed to wake up the Amaranto as they closed the half with chances of their own, but Lucarelli and Bakayoko both failed to hit the target.

There were no changes at the break and little differed on the pitch either. The second 45 minutes was another timid affair, especially for Livorno with the few opportunities going Partizan’s way. Lomic and Rnic attempted to beat Amelia from distance without any fortune.

However, the Belgrade boys took the lead on 70 minutes through Mirosavljevic. The latter coolly slotted the ball low into the corner to the right of the Italian international goalkeeper. Partizan 1 Livorno 0.

The Tuscan minnows reacted strongly and quickly to the setback. They immediately launched an attack of their own and threatened to make it 1-1. Stefano Morrone played the ball into the box for Bakayoko, but his shot was saved by Krajl and Vidigal failed to take advantage of the rebound.

Partizan, who also had late opportunities through Bosancic and Lomic, looked like they would hold on for the points until Amelia’s magic moment. With the clock reading 88 minutes, the custodian left his penalty area and perfectly connected with a Passoni cross. Incredible!

Livorno will now need to pick up more points against Maccabi Haifa and Auxerre to keep their qualification hopes alive.

Partizan: Kralj; Rnic, Bajic, Djordjevic, Lomic; Mirosavljevic (Markovski 87), Smiljanic, Markinkovic (Bosancic 61), Zajic; Odita, Lazic

Livorno: Amelia; Kuffour, Galante (Pavan 68), Grandoni; Pfertzel (Paulinho 73), Morrone, Vidigal, Passoni, Pasquale; Bakayoko, Lucarelli

Ref: Sippel (Ger)