Palermo held Lazio to a 2-2 draw at the Stadio Renzo Barbera on Saturday evening.
A late penalty from Hernanes rescued a point after second half goals from Egidio Arevalo Rios and Paulo Dybala cancelled out Sergio Floccari’s early opener.
It took just 10 minutes for Lazio to take the lead. Having tried a couple of long balls towards Floccari in the early moments, some terrible defending by Salvatore Aronica and Steve Von Bergen allowed Floccari to win a header early on, flicking it beyond Samir Ujkani and into the back of the net.
Lazio were comfortably in control in the opening moments, though just short of the 20 minute mark Palermo had their first real chance to draw level, via captain Fabrizio Miccoli, who forced a great save from Federico Marchetti from inside the area. The ensuing corner saw half chances for Aronica and Santiago Garcia, though they were both blocked.
10 minutes later Senad Lulic’s cross almost found Floccari, though the ball just skimmed the striker’s head and the gap stayed at just a single goal with half-an-hour on the clock.
Palermo were increasingly growing into the game, though struggled to create chances against the disciplined Lazio side. Shortly before half time they had a penalty shout turned down, but with the players trudging off at the break, the Rosanero had reason to be optimistic – though only thanks to their Albanian goalkeeper, who made a save at full stretch to deny Hernanes in stoppage time.
Just five minutes after the restart Lazio were on the end of another scare, though this one was of their own making. Luis Pedro Cavanda’s header back to his own goalkeeper almost found a lurking Palermo striker, though some quick reactions from Marchetti kept Lazio narrowly in front.
Shortly past the hour a quick Lazio counter-attack should have seen them 2-0 up, though Floccari was incorrectly denied a second in a bad offside decision. Once again Palermo were thrown a lifeline.
Miccoli was presented with the opportunity to take advantage after Paulo Dybala squared across the six-yard box from the right. The Palermo captain, however, couldn’t make a clean contact on the ball and scuffed it wide of the goal.
Just as it seemed all hope was fading, the incredible happened. They finally drew level with 20 minutes remaining, after an excellent low cross from new signing Andrea Dossena found Arevalo Rios practically on the goal line, with the Uruguayan bundling it in.
A minute later, Palermo were leading. In amazing scenes at the Renzo Barbera, a pass from Ilicic found a Miccoli lay-off, with young striker Dybala firing first time past Marchetti and into the back of the net.
A couple of minutes on, Lazio almost levelled, with a Ledesma free-kick cross finding the scorer Floccari in the box. The Italian couldn’t convert, however, as the visitors began to push Palermo further and further back.
Eventually, the pressure told. With just over five minutes remaining, a clumsy tackle by Ezequiel Munoz in the box saw Lazio given a penalty, with Hernanes stepping up and converting to Ujkani’s left, despite the goalkeeper diving the right way.
Lazio pushed for a winner, though it was Palermo who had the final chance of the match. Miccoli’s volley when clear in the box should have hit the back of the net, though it sailed over the bar and the game finished level.
