Palermo 3-1 at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi in Sunday afternoon’s Serie A action.
Goals from Fabrizio Cacciatore, Nicola Rigoni and Valter Birsa saw the hosts storm past a lowly Palermo side, who managed a sole goal through Alberto Gilardino.
Palermo pressed high up the pitch from the get go, as Mato Jajalo had a crack at goal following hard work from Oscar Hiljemark. The Swedish midfielder cut the ball back for his team-mate, with the ball practically poised to enter the net from a dangerous position, yet Jajalo could only manage to fire high and wide.
Fabrizio Cacciatore then made the visitors pay for their early miss, asserting his side’s intentions with a simple tap in from Massimo Gobbi’s low cut cross, which skipped past the entire Rosanero defence.
Confidence could be seen to flow through the entire home team following the goal, yet a multitude of offsides and an inability to finish well crafted chances saw them unable to double their lead.
Whilst chances came as a rarity for Palermo, it wasn’t long before they found their way back into the game. Constantly searching for goal, Alberto Gilardino eventually found the equaliser. The Italian was set free on goal and somehow managed to get his foot on the ball despite laying flat on the ground, after Chievo goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri let the ball loose during an attempted save.
The action packed first half refused to bow out on a low note either, as Floro Flores and Sinisa Andelkovic butted heads with each other over a penalty call for the hosts, forcing the referee to break up the scene and show both players a yellow card five minutes from the half time whistle.
After play resumed, Chievo took the lead once more, this time through Nicola Rigoni. With just 53 minutes on the clock, the former Palermo man charged forward to meet the end of a Cacciatore cross, heading calmly into the back of the net.
Franco Vazquez pushed to find yet another way back into the game for the visitors, yet it was not be, as Valter Birsa curled in a beauty of a free-kick with 20 minutes remaining, rounding off the scoreline.
The result propels Chievo into ninth place with 41 points whilst Palermo remain in the relegation zone in 18th on just 28 points, sitting below fellow strugglers Carpi.
