Catania and Palermo drew 1-1 in the Sicilian derby at the Stadio Angelo Massimino on Sunday afternoon.
Pablo Barrientos scored the opener in the second half before Josip Ilicic struck at the death to claim a point for the visitors.
The hosts mounted the pressure early on, as one of their attacks resulted in a free kick from a dangerous area. Francesco Lodi’s resulting attempt, however, was saved by Stefano Sorrentino in the top left corner.
Minutes later, Palermo replied with their first decent chance of the game. Josip Ilicic made a darting run on a counter, received the ball, shook off Giuseppe Bellusci, but couldn’t get enough on the ball leading to a save from Mariano Andujar.
Then on 18 minutes, Catania got another opportunity. Mariano Izco knocked in a cross to Sergio Almiron’s feet, however his shot from inside the penalty area was blasted over the bar.
After the restart, Lodi once again had a free kick from a decent range, but was once again just off, blasting his effort just wide of the left post.
Substitute Lucas Castro was inches away from opening the scoring, but Sorrentino came up big yet again and tipped it wide.
Finally, on 68 minutes, a goal arrived. Alejandro Gomez fired a cross from the left flank and found Barrientos, his shot deflected and snuck into the back of the net to give the Rossazzurri the lead.
Then, after Bellusci made a run forward and earned a booking, Abel Hernandez played in Ilicic with a through ball, and he buried it in the last minute of added time to claim a point for Palermo. Andujar was subsequently sent off for protests.
