Roma had a chance to equalise in the 27th minute, but Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar saved Conti's low shot. Neal was shown a yellow card in the 32nd minute for bringing down Conti, and a few minutes later Liverpool had an opportunity to extend their lead. Liverpool striker Rush charged down Dario Bonetti's clearance and ran onto the ball, but his shot was saved by Tancredi. With minutes remaining until half-time, Roma equalised. Sebastiano Nela passed to Conti, who ran down the left-hand side of the pitch. His first attempt at crossing the ball into the penalty area was blocked by a combination of Neal and Mark Lawrenson, but his cross rebounded back to him. His second attempt found Roberto Pruzzo in the penalty area, whose glancing header went into the Liverpool goal to level the scores at 1–1.