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| CSKA blitz Palermo |
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Two goals from Seydou Doumbia and one from Tomas Necid kept up CSKA Moscow's 100% record in Group F of the Europa League with a 3-0 win against 10-man Palermo at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.
Doumbia, a 22-year-old Ivory Coast striker, headed home in a first half which also saw CSKA have a penalty kick saved by Palermo goalkeeper Francesco Benussi.
Then Doumbia slotted a second halfway through the second half to kill off the challenge of a lively Palermo side who had Argentinian midfielder Javier Pastore sent off for dissent.
It was a match in which CSKA demonstrated their superior power, dominating possession while Palermo looked to catch them on the break.
Palermo should have taken the lead after 11 minutes when Massimo Maccarone was played in 10 yards from goal. Unfortunately, the former Middlesbrough striker rushed his left foot shot, spooning the ball over the crossbar.
If that was a waste then CSKA were even more profligate when Mark Gonzalez was brought down in the penalty area by Benussi.
Vagner Love, the Brazilian striker with distinctive blue hair, stepped up only to see his spot-kick pushed aside by the Palermo goalkeeper.
If anything that miss spurred on CSKA. They began to dominate proceedings and the inevitable opener arrived after 34 minutes.
It owed a lot to shoddy Palermo marking, which allowed Doumbia to glide in between Matteo Darmian and Mattia Cassani to head home.
Palermo came out with renewed vigour after the break but they were rocked again by some sloppy defending.
This time substitute Kamil Glik and Dorin Goian were to blame, failing to track Doumba who provided the coolest of finishes before being substituted with Tomas Necid.
While Palermo never gave up, their fate was sealed after 75 minutes by a moment of madness from Pastore, who received a yellow card from referee Robert Schorgenhofer for dissent and then immediately received another and the inevitable red card for sarcastically applauding the official.
Necid wrapped it up, cashing in on a splendid flick from Alan Dzagoev to slide home a third goal as CSKA hit Palermo on the break.
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