ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - This is exactly what Italy did not want.

After getting routed by the Netherlands and drawing 1-1 with Romania to open the European Championship, the World Cup champions now need points against France and help from the Dutch against Romania in the final round of Group C matches.

Before the tournament, Italy striker Luca Toni told his friend and Bayern Munich teammate, France winger Franck Ribery, that he hoped the Azzurri would already be qualified by the time they met in a rematch of the World Cup final.

As it happened, Italy would have been eliminated by Romania on Friday if Gianluigi Buffon hadn't saved a late penalty from Adrian Mutu.

"Let's hope Gigi's save is the start of a turnaround because we're going to need it against France," Toni said.

Daniel Niculae was dragged down by Christian Panucci in the 80th minute, and a penalty was awarded. Buffon dived to his left and reached back with his hand to stop Mutu's shot, and the ball then deflected away off the goalkeeper's leg.

"A save is a save - I was lucky," a modest Buffon said. "The draw doesn't make things easy for us, but thinking about the fact that we could have been eliminated, we've got to be pleased for this point."

At the World Cup two years ago, Buffon only allowed two goals in seven matches - an own-goal by Cristian Zaccardo against the United States and a penalty from Zinedine Zidane in the final with France.

Italy beat France in a penalty shootout for its fourth World Cup title, then lost in Paris and drew 0-0 at home in European qualifying.

Mutu, who plays in Italy for Fiorentina, gave Romania the lead in the 55th minute following a defensive mistake by Gianluca Zambrotta. A long free kick by Gabriel Tamas was headed back toward the Italy goal by the defender, but Mutu was there to steal it and send a right-footed shot past the charging Buffon. Mutu's goal was his 29th in 63 appearances for Romania. He also led the team with six goals in qualifying.

It took the Italians only one minute to reply. Panucci scored his fourth goal in 55 internationals from close range after a corner kick was headed toward him by Giorgio Chiellini, Tamas missing a chance to clear the danger.

Italy had numerous other chances but Toni, the Azzurri's 1.93-meter (6-foot-4) striker, couldn't find the target.

"We're creating more chances than at the World Cup," Zambrotta said. "We're more offensive, but we haven't been able to score goals."

The Netherlands leads the group with six points, followed by Romania with two and France and Italy with one each.

Both teams also came close to scoring in the first half.

Romania captain Cristian Chivu hit the post in the 20th when his long-range free kick deflected off Panucci, and Italy forward Luca Toni had a goal annulled for a controversial offside call in first-half injury time.

"The spirit in the locker room is one of disappointment," Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said. "We created a lot and earned little. We deserved more than a draw."

In the loss to the Netherlands, Ruud van Nistelrooy's goal was allowed even though the Dutch forward appeared to be offside because Panucci was lying injured off the field of play.

"There's no consistency," said Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi, who had a scoring chance with a header in the 75th. "After five days we still don't know if the goal that Van Nistelrooy scored against us was valid or not. Meanwhile, our goal was regular and we deserved to win. We put 10 shots on the goalkeeper."

Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Christian Panucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Grosso, Daniele De Rossi, Andrea Pirlo, Mauro Camoranesi (Massimo Ambrosini, 85), Alessandro Del Piero (Fabio Quagliarella, 77), Simone Perrotta (Antonio Cassano, 57), Luca Toni.