Torino maintained their 100% home record with a narrow victory over Palermo on Sunday afternoon, despite finishing the match with only nine men.
As expected, Maxi Lopez replaced Josef Martinez upfront, whilst Davide Zappacosta and Marco Benassi also came into the starting eleven.
Some neat footwork by Daniele Baselli in midfield put Fabio Quagliarella through on goal, but his shot was easily saved by former Toro keeper Stefano Sorrentino.
The away side were inches away from taking the lead through Aleksandar Trajkovski's thirty yard free kick which rattled off the crossbar.
Toro took the lead on the stroke of half time when Cristian Molinaro's low cross was deflected into his own net by Giancarlo Gonzalez under pressure from Lopez.
The Granata doubled their lead moments into the second half in sensational fashion when Maxi Lopez found Marco Benassi who scored a sensational Marco Van Basten-esque volley from a difficult angle.
The home side then found themselves reduced to ten men when Cristiano Molinaro received a second yellow card when he was penalised for pulling back Trajkovski. And Palermo ensured a nervy last twenty minutes when Giancarlo Gonzalez headed into the right net this time, as he converted Franco Vasquez's cross.
Torino were then reduced to nine men in injury time when substitute Joel Obi was given his marching orders for a rash foul on Vasquez. Toro were almost made to pay for that indiscipline in the dying seconds, but Aljaz Struna's hit the woodwork and Toro held on.
This was a great victory for Toro as they had to overcome adversity in order to claim the three points, and a win over Carpi would, temporarily at least, put the Granata top of Serie A.
No comments:
Post a Comment