Coppa Italia: Palermo win final place

Palermo have progressed to the final of the Coppa Italia by defeating AC Milan 2-1 in the second leg of their semi-final on Tuesday.

Midfielder Giulio Migliaccio and defender Cesare Bovo scored the goals for Palermo, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s stoppage-time strike made little difference for Milan as both teams ended an exciting match with 10 men.

After a 2-2 draw in the opening leg at San Siro on April 20, Palermo started brightly as they looked to progress to their first Coppa Italia final since 1979.

Argentine Javier Pastore and midfielder Armin Bacinovic squandered first-half chances for the home side, while Brazilian Robinho wasted AC Milan’s best opportunity at the other end when he shot over with only the goalkeeper to beat.

The game came to life just after the hour mark, as Palermo’s pressure led to a corner and Migliaccio evaded the defence to score.

That advantage was doubled 10 minutes later when Bovo scored from the penalty spot after Milan’s Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel was adjudged to have brought down Slovenian Josip Ilicic in the box.

Van Bommel was shown a straight red card for the clumsy challenge, but Palermo’s numerical advantage did not last long as Bovo was given his marching orders on 75 minutes for a bad foul on young striker Alexandre Pato.

Ibrahimovic pulled a goal back for AC Milan deep into stoppage time, but it was too late for the newly crowned Serie A champions as Palermo clinched a 4-3 aggregate victory.