Nothing to do, not even this time. If the victory after two months really seemed to be in the safe, Palermo came back from injury time with a Eurogoal from Caligara and had a 2-2 draw with Ascoli, despite gaining the pass for the play-offs.
In a “Barbera” in full contest, the pinks are mocked once again and now they will have to beat SudTirol to maintain sixth place, given that Sampdoria and Brescia have won. Despite a good first half, they ended up ahead with goals Brunorithe draw of Caligara and the new advantage of Soleriin the second half the team of Mignani he thinks more about defending himself and containing a team that must save itself, than about closing the game. And she is reached when it seems that victory is within her grasp.
Compared to the last two defeats, Mignani relaunches Ranocchia as the starter, leaving Di Francesco on the bench, moves Diakité to the right wing of midfield, but above all he makes the under 21 goalkeeper Sebastiano Desplanches make his debut from the first minute, immediately acclaimed by the “Barbera” crowd. That the atmosphere around the Rosanero is very tense is immediately clear from the “strike” of the supporters of the Curva Nord, who enter only in the 15th minute, after displaying an eloquent banner: “Honoring the shirt of this city is worth more than the series TO”. And even when the match will be interrupted for a few minutes for firecrackers to be thrown.
Yet, in this surreal climate, Mignani’s team immediately found the advantage in the first minute with Brunori, who served by Soleri, face to face with Vazquez, made no mistakes and equaled last year’s haul, 17 goals. In the 12th minute Gomes steals the ball and serves wide to Soleri who looks for Brunori in advance with a sure shot. Two minutes later Brunori dribbles away on the right flank and crosses into the middle, the ball ends up in Diakité on the opposite bank, who takes aim but shoots high from a good position. Palermo attacked with their heads down, but in the 27th minute, with Ascoli’s first attack, they equalized: from a cross from the left he took Caligara away and beat Desplaches, who he touched but was unable to clear. Yet, the Rosanero did not give up and in the 34th minute found the opening goal with Soleri, who did well to head home a diving header on a loose ball in the small area, after an attempted overhead kick by Segre.
In the second half the squad seemed more tired and with an attitude more of containing their opponents than of a team attacking to close the game. In the first 12 minutes of the first half nothing happens and in the 57th minute Palermo replaces a tired Gomes for Henderson. Time passes without any particular opportunities and in the 66th minute Mignani replaces Ranocchia with Di Francesco. In the 73rd minute Desplanches was ready for a shot from inside the area. In the 84th minute, Palermo once again took the lead and came close to making it three with a long-range shot from Di Francesco, which Vazquez didn’t hold back and was saved by the post. It all seems over and instead Caligara, in full recovery, invents a great goal from outside the area that strikes Desplanches and sends Palermo out again amidst boos, in the last home match of the regular season.
