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Europa League holders Dnipro deny Lazio with last-gasp equaliser



Last season's finalists Dnipro scored a 94th-minute equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw and prevent Lazio beginning their Europa League campaign with an impressive away victory.




Last season's finalists Dnipro scored a 94th-minute equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw and prevent Lazio beginning their Europa League campaign with an impressive away victory.
The Serie A side, among the tournament favourites, were the more convincing team in a match of few clear-cut chances and were on the verge of a 1-0 win after Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's first-half goal.
In the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, however, with what was virtually the last touch of the game, Yevhen Seleznyov headed a scrambled equaliser from Ruslan Rotan's corner beyond goalkeeper Federico Marchetti.
Dnipro had won their past five home fixtures in European competition without conceding. But capitalising on a foul on Milinkovic-Savic, Lazio striker Ricardo Kishna used the resultant 34th-minute free-kick to send an exceptional cross towards the young Serbian midfielder to head his first goal for the club and give the visitors the lead.
Dnipro had begun slowly and though they posed more of a threat after Lazio went ahead, it was still the Italians who looked most likely to score next.
Central midfielder Marco Parolo tested Dnipro goalkeeper Denys Boyko with a shot little over 10 minutes after half-time.
Then, amid a period of pressure in the 71st minute, Lazio striker Alessandro Matri and Parolo saw good chances blocked.
By that point, Dnipro's Danilo missing the target shortly beforehand was as close as they had come to equalising.
Papa Gueye's lack of accuracy meant another promising Dnipro chance to equalise with five minutes remaining went to waste but fortunately for the defender, his team-mate Seleznyov later succeeded where he had not.