FRANCESCO TOTTI became the oldest scorer in European club competition history when he netted after 24 minutes to give AS Roma a 1-1 draw at Manchester City in their Champions League Group E match at the Etihad Stadium last night.
Totti, who turned 38 on Saturday, chipped the ball over goalkeeper Joe Hart for his landmark goal which resulted in City failing to win their first home match in the competition for the fourth successive season.
City went ahead when their former defender Maicon put his arm around Sergio Aguero and pulled him down leaving referee Bjorn Kuipers no alternative but to award the penalty, which the Argentine swept home sending Roma's stand-in keeper Lukasz Skorupski the wrong way.
But City failed to build on that early advantage and although they played better in the second half when James Milner and Frank Lampard - squaring off against former team-mate Ashley Cole - came on as substitutes. Roma, in truth, were worth their point.
"We didn't play at our best but we had a fair few chances and could have nicked it," lamented Milner.
The Italian side, who have won all five of their Serie A games since the start of the season and beat CSKA Moscow 5-1 at home in their opening Champions League match two weeks ago, played some crisp, sharp football after falling behind, and were unlucky not to be on level terms almost immediately.
A quick break ended with Maicon, who began the move marauding down the right flank, smashing his angled shot against the bar. Former Arsenal winger Gervinho almost scored from a similar position at the end of the first half, but Hart did well to save his powerful shot.
City, third in the Premier League, needed a result after losing their Group E opener 1-0 at Bayern Munich, but were largely second best in the first half.
They cancelled out Roma's creativity after the restart, but failed to find the breakthrough.
"It was a good performance after going 1-0 down," said Roma full-back Cole. "We had belief we could get a result. Maybe we should have won? I don't know. It's a good point."
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