Wayne Rooney reckons Manchester United team-mate Michael Carrick was the key to England's fightback against Italy in Turin.
The Three Lions were a goal down when Carrick came on as a 43rd-minute substitute for his injured club-mate Chris Smalling, allowing Phil Jones to move from a holding midfield role to centre-half.
And manager Roy Hodgson's tactical switch proved the right one as England began to claw their way back into the match after the break.
Italy 1-1 England
International match
Juventus Stadium, Turin
Wednesday 31 March 2015
Rooney said: "I thought the best player on the pitch by a mile - when he came on - was Michael Carrick.
"He came on and dictated the game for us and we saw how much control we had from that moment so I think he was the big difference between the two teams in the second half."
Graziano Pelle headed Italy into a 28th-minute lead following good work by Giorgio Chiellini down the left flank.
But Carrick entering the fray helped tip the midfield battle in England's favour and the second-half introductions of Andros Townsend and Ross Barkley for Theo Walcott and Fabian Delph reinforced the visitors' grip on the match.
And it was Tottenham winger Townsend who thumped home a 25-yard stunner to draw his country level with 11 minutes left on the clock.
Rooney had two good chances to move closer to eclipsing Bobby Charlton's all-time England goalscoring record and Harry Kane also had an effort saved by Gianluigi Buffon as the visitors looked for a winner.
Rooney added: "Andros and Ross are impact players – they can create chances for you and that's what we hoped they'd do and thankfully Andros has done that with a great goal.
"I think we deserved to win it – we had the better chances. Italy were the better team in the first half... partly because of ourselves – we didn't put enough pressure on the ball, we let them have it to easy.
"But in the second half we came out and dominated. We created chances and could have won the game but overall we're pleased with a draw – it's a good result against Italy away and it keeps us on an unbeaten run since the summer."
