Panucci breaks Scotland hearts

Hopes of participating at next summer's finals appeared to be all but over when Luca Toni fired the visitors into the lead in the second minute, before Barry Ferguson threw Scotland a lifeline. James McFadden came so close to a late winner, firing wide as he stretched to meet Kenny Miller's cross.

But the cruellest of twists was to come as Christian Panucci inflicted a fatal blow in the 90th minute to guarantee Italy and France would be heading to Austria and Switzerland, while Scotland's long wait to dine at football's top table continues.

Fireworks marked the arrival of both teams onto the pitch but were nothing compared to the explosive start from the Italians as they surged into the lead with less than two minutes on the clock and Scotland suffered the worst possible opening to the game.

Gianluca Zambrotta spotted Antonio Di Natale lurking, unmarked in the box, and picked him out with a throw-in as the Scotland defence were caught napping. Di Natale swept into the path of Toni who delicately flicked into the top left corner from the six-yard line.

At the other end, Scotland were denied the opportunity to haul themselves back into the match when a thunderous drive from Lee McCulloch appeared to be handled by Zambrotta inside the area but screams for a penalty were ignored by Spanish referee Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez.

David Weir rose above everyone else in a packed box to meet Ferguson's corner and his header appeared to be heading for the top corner before Andrea Pirlo somehow managed to nod off the line.

But Scotland found the back of the net as Hampden erupted with 65 minutes gone. McFadden's free-kick deflected into the path of McCulloch in front of goal. He was denied by Gianluigi Buffon, but the rebound fell kindly to Ferguson and the captain gratefully rifled home from a couple of yards.

With just over 15 minutes to go, Scott Brown was withdrawn for Kenny Miller as Scotland went for broke. The Derby striker quickly began to cause the Italians problems and delivered a wonderful diagonal cross to the feet of McFadden but the man already regarded as a national hero fired wide when it looked so much easier to leave the net bulging.

Instead, Scotland's impossible dream ended in the cruellest possible way when Italy snatched a last minute goal to secure their own qualification for Euro 2008. Alan Hutton appeared to be barged over in front of the corner flag but the referee inexplicably awarded the free-kick the other way and Panucci rose to meet Pirlo's cross and nod home the winner.