Roma lost the chance to really put pressure on Inter as a Cristiano Lucarelli hat-trick earned Livorno a 3-3 draw in Tuscany.


Following Inter's surprise 3-1 defeat at Catania on Friday night, Roma had the chance to re-enter the Scudetto race and close to within four points of the leaders with a win. Claudio Ranieri was minus the services of Francesco Totti and Mirko Vucinic as Luca Toni started in attack.


Livorno, meanwhile, who were third from bottom, desperately needed points in their battle against the drop but were without a host of players as Miglionico, Bernadini, Bergvold, Pulzetti, Tavano and Galante were all injured and Cristian Raimondi was suspended. Cristiano Lucarelli led the line up-front.


Roma had the first effort within sixty seconds as John Arne Riise barged into the area and lashed high and wide.


But it was Livorno who surprisingly took the lead on nine minutes as veteran Lucarelli beat the offside trap on a chipped pass and fired a clinical angled drive past Julio Sergio.


But Roma hit back almost immediately. A brilliant flick by Rodrigo Taddei released Simone Perrotta whose stretched shot buried the ball into the bottom corner.


Roma then started to take control as Taddei tested Rubinho, and on 19 minutes the away side turned the game to go ahead. David Pizarro's free kick was flicked on by Perrotta for Toni to nod in at the back post.


It was turning into a quite incredible match. On the 26-minute mark we had another two goals within the space of 60 seconds. First of all Lucarelli got Livorno back on level terms again as he knocked the ball past Julio Sergio to tap home.


Then, Roma, attacked straight from the kick-off and Perrotta got his second assist by cutting back to Pizarro to stroke home from 12 yards.


Roma countinued to attack, and on 39 minutes they had the chance to open up a two-goal lead as Jeremy Menez was felled by Dario Knezevic after a solo run. Pizarro stepped up but his low shot crashed off the post.


Pizarro was almost made to pay for this miss as just before half time, as Davide Di Gennaro whistled a daisycutter just wide of the post.


Livorno made a double change early in the second half as they looked for another equaliser. Brazilians Mozart and Marcos Diniz entered for Claudio Bellucci and Romano Perticone.


There was a funny moment just before the hour mark as Toni had his shirt ripped and then waited frustrately on the touchline for a good few minutes while the backroom staff struggled to find him another top.


The first real moment on the pitch in the second half arrived on 63 minutes as Julio Sergio flew across his goal to make a brilliant finger tip stop from a deflected Davide Moro drive.


Ranieri tried to tighten his defence by swapping Marco Cassetti for the more attack-minded Marco Motta.


But on 70 minutes Livorno were awarded a penalty for a Juan handball. Lucarelli stepped up and sent Rubinho the wrong way to complete his hat-trick.


It was almost 4-3 to Livorno soon after as Andrea Esposito headed over from yards out from a corner. Down the other end, Toni lashed just wide.


Juan almost won the game for Roma in injury time with a header, but the spoils were shared.