Palermo continued their charge up the Serie A table following a deserved 2-1 victory against Hellas Verona.
The Gialloblu began the game well and took the lead in the eight minute following a Panagiotis Tachtsidis header, however the Aquile equalised soon after via a free kick from Paolo Dybala.
With the score at 1-1, Verona looked happy to take a point and sat back for the majority of the second half. However they were soon made to pay for this lack of imagination when Andrea Belotti clinched the victory for the home side in the 79th minute.
The match began in unfortunate fashion for Verona as they were forced into making an early change following the injury of Jacopo Sala in only the fourth minute of the match. The midfielder was replaced by Lazaros Christodoulopoulos.
However Verona were not discouraged by this early setback and soon took the lead with a superb header from Tachtsidis in the eight minute of the match. Leandro Greco swung in a dangerous ball which was subsequently met by the Greek midfielder who rose well above his marker and fired a towering header into the left hand corner of the net.
The Gialloblu’s lead did not last long however following Dybala’s superb equaliser in the 18th minute. The Rossonero were awarded a free kick about ten yards outside the penalty area and the Argentine forward confidently stepped up and curled an inch perfect shot into the left hand corner of the goal. The 21-year-old starlet struck the ball so sweetly that there was nothing Franceso Benussi could do as the ball went in off his left hand post.
Palermo should have taken the lead just before half time after schoolboy defending from Verona led to a goalscoring chance for Franco Vasquez in the 43rd minute. The Gialloblu were incapable of clearing a simple ball and it eventually fell to Edgar Barreto who squared the ball to Vasquez in the centre of penalty area, however the 25-year-old wasted the chance, firing a wayward shot just over the Verona goal.
The second half began in similar fashion to the end of the first with Palermo dominating the majority of possession and using their slick passing to work their way into the opposition box. However even whilst they toyed with the Verona midfield, they too often lacked conviction when playing the final ball and their chances were reduced to either long-range shots or wasteful set-pieces.
As the game progressed, it seemed that coach of the Gialloblu, Andrea Mandorlini, was intent on escaping Siciliy with just a draw and set his side out to create a solid wall of eight players on the edge their penalty area to try to prevent any chance of a Palermo penetration.
However the Rossonero’s continued persistence soon paid off in the 77th minute after a fortunate Andrea Belotti header crept its way into the net. The deadlock was broken after the lively Vasquez whipped in a low ball from the left hand side which then deflected off the head of Belotti into the far right hand corner of the goal with Palermo deservedly taking the lead and they ultimately obtained the three points.
