CSKA score late leveller to snatch draw with Roma

By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW (Reuters) - CSKA Moscow's Vasili Berezutski scored in the third minute of stoppage time to grab a 1-1 Champions League draw with AS Roma on Tuesday that left Group E in the balance. Roma appeared to have one foot in the knockout stages when the evergreen Francesco Totti netted with a thunderbolt of a freekick just before halftime. Yet Berezutski got the faintest touch to a set piece that was floated in from the left to grab a precious point. The draw leaves Roma second in Group E, level on five points with third place CSKA after five matches. Manchester City, with two points, host Bayern Munich later on Tuesday. CSKA started well as Georgi Schennikov had an early opportunity in the seventh minute, but the left back decided to go for goal, when he would have been better off squaring to the unmarked Seydou Doumbia. As the half wore on, Roma began to get into their stride. The Italians had only picked up one point in their last three Champions League encounters, but they were playing some intricate football with the Totti and Kostas Manolas looking dangerous. The visitors had a fine save from goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis to thank for keeping the scores level on 39 minutes. A fine throughball by Bebras Natcho put Seydou Doumbia through on goal and the Ivorian, who had netted three times in his last two matches, would have banked on finding the target, but the 37-year-old De Sanctis produced a fine save with his legs. Roma were indebted to another veteran for giving them the lead. Totti rifled home a freekick from just outside the penalty area in his 54th Champions League encounter, breaking his own record as the competition’s oldest scorer, setting a new mark of 38 years and 59 days. Rudi Garcia’s team should have doubled their lead on the hour mark. Radja Nainggolan managed to slalom his way through the Russian champions' defence to put himself clean through on goal, but dragged his right-footed shot wide of the left hand post. Roma were happy to sit back and defend, and ultimately paid the penalty deep into stoppage time when Berezutski netted to keep the hosts' hopes alive. (Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; editing by Toby Davis)