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Palermo with a 3-1 win over Roma |
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Palermo leapt above Roma into fifth in Serie A with an impressive 3-1 win at the Stadio Renzo Barbera tonight.
Fabrizio Miccoli set them on their way to victory in the 20th minute and two goals in the space of five second-half minutes from Josip Ilicic and Antonio Nocerino sealed all three points for Delio Rossi's side.
Francesco Totti grabbed a last-gasp consolation for Claudio Ranieri's men.
A win would have taken Roma up to third and they started brightly with John Arne Riise testing Salvatore Sirigu with a stinging shot in the third minute.
Sirigu then used his leg to save Jeremy Menez's dangerous angled shot.
Palermo went ahead with their first real attack, which was launched by Armin Bacinovic after David Pizarro lost possession in midfield.
The chance looked to have gone when Armin Bacinovic played in Federico Balzaretti and his shot was blocked, but the Palermo full-back picked up possession again and sent Ilicic to the goal line, from where he pulled the ball back across goal to Miccoli.
Without even taking a look at the goal, Miccoli instinctively beat Julio Sergio inside his near post to put the home team in front.
Recent games between these two sides have had a habit of providing lots of goals and it looked like that would be the case again as Roma launched a rally late in the first half.
Totti's shot was parried and David Pizarro struck the rebound wide as the Giallorossi tried in vain to get level.
The Rosaneri left them no chance in the second half.
Javier Pastore dribbled his way through only to be stopped by Julio Sergio in the 49th minute and Ilicic added the second in the 61st minute.
Balzaretti pulled the ball across from the goal line and the Slovenian lifted his shot into the roof of the net from close range.
A counter-attack in the 66th minute sealed the win with Cesare Bovo exchanging passes with Pastore to get in behind the last Roma defender and pull the ball back to Nocerino, who scored his first goal of the season from eight yards.
Totti grabbed a late consolation for Roma with a powerful shot across Sirigu, who got a hand to it but could not keep the ball out.
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