AC Milan defeated Palermo 2-0 at the San Siro in Serie A on Sunday afternoon.
A brace from Mario Balotelli helped the home side to yet another victory as they look to close in on Napoli and secure a Champions League spot.
Milan were awarded a penalty in the seventh minute after Salvatore Aronica clearly pulled Balotelli to the ground at a corner kick. The Italian made no mistake and coolly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to give the home side the lead.
The Rossoneri almost doubled their lead in the 23rd minute after a superb, flowing move, Stephan El Shaarawy cut inside but his shot was blocked by a last ditch challenge and the ball went out for a corner.
Palermo were furious when on the half hour mark Cristian Zapata clearly used his hand and stopped the ball going through to Josep Ilicic. The Colombian was yellow carded but it arguably should of been red as he clearly denied a goal scoring opportunity, with Ilicic one on one with the goalkeeper had Zapata not used his hand.
The Sicilians created very little in the first half with Michel Morganella coming closest with a shot from the edge of the box which was pushed round the post for a corner by Christian Abbiati.
The visitors started the second half brightly and Ilicic came close after a good run his shot took an awkward deflection but Abbiati managed to get his left hand to it and deny Rosanero an equaliser.
The Rossoneri stopper was again called into action just minutes later when Paulo Dybala found himself in space inside the box. The youngster looked for the far corner but Abbiati made a good stop with his feet to deny Palermo again.
Giuseppe Sannino’s men were dealt a sucker punch in the 66th minute when after a good spell of possession Balotelli got his second goal of the match. After good work on the left wing by M’baye Niang the ball deflected and Stefano Sorrentino could only parry and ‘Super Mario’ made no mistake from two yards lifting the ball over the helpless Palermo stopper.
Balotelli was not able to get his hat trick and it is looking more and more likely that Palermo are heading for Serie B after another defeat.
