Catanzaro, one step closer to playoff final: Palermo scrambled 3-0
An important step toward the playoff final, which is worth a place in Serie A. It was accomplished by Catanzaro, able to overwhelm Palermo 3-0 in the first leg semifinal played Sunday night at the Ceravolo Stadium. It was a very important result for Alberto Aquilani’s Giallorossi, who, however, must watch out for the return leg next Wednesday. Thanks to the final Serie B standings, in fact, with the score tied, it would be the Rosanero who would pass the round.
Catanzaro put the challenge down thanks to Pietro Iemmello, scoring after just 49 seconds ahead of two Palermo defenders on a feed from Cassandro. The same captain of the Calabrese doubled on 15′ by deflecting into the net a ball that Brighenti had laid on him on the developments of a corner. At 41′ Liberali’s tic-tac-toe, with a great left-footed shot on an assist from the relentless Iemmello. Palermo was not to be found on the pitch until Rui Modesto’s crossbar as time expired, after other missed chances even for the hosts’ poker.
Catanzaro’s path to this semifinal had already been convincing: the Calabrians had made it through the preliminary round by overwhelming Avellino 3-0, with goals from Pontisso, Cassandro and Iemmello on a penalty kick. Palermo, on the other hand, by virtue of their fourth-place finish in the regular season, had been able to skip the first round and wait directly in the semifinals for the winner of that confrontation.
The return leg is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20, at Palermo’s Stadio Renzo Barbera, with kickoff at 8 p.m. Filippo Inzaghi’s Rosanero will necessarily have to overturn the result of the first leg to advance to the final: in the event of an overall draw after the 180 minutes, the regulations in fact reward the best placed side, and thus Catanzaro would be eliminated even if they drew by a three-goal margin. For the Giallorossi, on the other hand, it will be enough not to lose by more than a two-goal margin to detach the ticket for the final act.
The final, with the first leg on May 24 and the return on May 29, will award the third and last place available for Serie A, after Venezia and Frosinone have already secured direct promotion at the end of the regular season. In the other semifinal, meanwhile, the first leg between Juve Stabia and Monza has already been played last night.
The match was played in an emotionally charged context for Palermo, which in recent days had mourned the passing of little Alessia La Rosa, an 8-year-old girl and a great Rosanero fan, a season ticket holder in the Curva Nord, who had been battling cancer for seven years. The club had wanted to remember her with a moving message, “See you at the stadium Ale, as always and forever.”
