Alessandria shocked Palermo by beating them 3-2 in Wednesday afternoon’s thrilling fourth round Coppa Italia fixture at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.
A fourth minute penalty converted by Massimo Loviso set the tone for a dramatic match marred by a 22nd minute red card to Franco Vazquez, immediately capitalised on by Michele Marconi, before goals to Aleksandar Trajkovski, Gianluca Nicco and Alberto Gilardino saw out an action-packed tie.
The match started in dramatic circumstances when an appeal for handball against Palermo’s Andrea Rispoli was awarded.
Loviso stepped up and calmly gave the Lega Pro side a shock 1-0 lead in just the 4th minute.
Alessandria continued to hold their own before disaster struck for the Rosanero when captain Vazquez was shown a straight red card for a raised elbow.
It took the Grigi just one minute to take advantage of the extra man as Michele Marconi latched onto a lifted through ball to drill it past Simone Colombi on the bounce.
The outsiders could have made it 3-0 before the break when Gianluca Nicco was played through on goal who squandered the opportunity with a weak shot directly at Colombi.
The Serie A outfit started the second half with new found energy as they began to trouble Vannucchi’s goal, aided by Alberto Gilardino’s 52nd minute entry into the game.
On the 55 minute mark, the Sicilian’s restored hope as Robin Quaison played through Aleksandar Trajkovski, who was able to beat Vannucchi at his near post to make it 2-1.
Trajkovski was then centimetres from drawing level, side-footing a chipped ball from Gilardino agonisingly wide of the post.
As Palermo pushed for an equaliser, the game opened up to create chances on both ends of the pitch.
Alessandria came close to seeing the game off on multiple occasions with a Riccardo Bocalon goal disallowed for offside, before a Manuel Fischnaller effort drew a remarkable diving save from Colombi.
However, there was no denying an outstanding 82nd minute individual effort from Nicco, sending his shot from outside the box into the top right-hand corner.
Drama struck yet again just one minute later with Roberto Sabato shown the second red of the match for a challenge just outside the box on Trajkovski.
Gilardino pounced on the rebound from the resulting free-kick to set up a thrilling finish at 3-2.
Palermo threw everything forward to save the game however were unable to force extra-time, with Alessandria pulling off a historic Coppa Italia upset.
