Soccer - Palermo power past Milan

A revitalised Palermo are through to the semi-finals of the Italian Cup championship after a convincing 3-0 win over Milan on Tuesday night. The home side collected their first triumph over the San Siro outfit for 26 years in a debut that new boss Giuseppe Papadopulo is unlikely to forget. Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini was looking for a reaction from his boys following the dismissal of Luigi Del Neri and he certainly got that in the first 45 minutes of the game. New man Papadopulo shelved Del Neri’s trademark 4-4-2 tactics in favour of a more flexible 4-3-2-1, with Mariano Gonzalez and David Di Michele excellently supporting lone-striker Andrea Caracciolo.Milan responded with a more cautious 4-4-1-1 with Kaká playing just behind Alberto Gilardino, the Rossoneri goal hero from the first leg. Yet it took the Rosanero just 18 minutes to turn the tie around with Gonzalez and Caracciolo netting for the home side.It could have been so different though had Kaká taken his chance for the away side in the eighth minute. A misplaced Grosso clearance fell kindly to the Brazilian, but his effort was stopped on the line by Andujar. It proved to be a costly error for the Italian giants.Just two minutes later, Palermo took the lead in some style. Gonzalez let rip from 30 yards out and his curling effort flew over Zeljko Kalac, who was a few metres off his line, and into the top corner. Worse was to follow when the poorly protected Milan defence was ripped open by a Gonzalez pass. His perfectly weighted assist fell to the feet of Caracciolo who flicked the ball over the diving Kalac to make it 2-0 on the night, 2-1 on aggregate.Palermo should then have made it three when Di Michele broke the offside trap, but his decision to try to chip the ball over Kalac in a one-on-one situation was disastrous as the ball finished wide of the far post.That scare seemed to wake Milan up a little even if their response was limited to a Marcos Cafu goal which was rightly disallowed for offside, before the Brazilian then saw his low angled drive saved by the Argentine ‘keeper.Neither Coach made any changes at the break and little changed once the game restarted as Palermo quickly took a firm grip on qualification with a third goal. A lack of communication between Dario Simic and goalkeeper Kalac allowed Gonzalez to sneak in between them to ripple the net for the second time of the game this evening.Boss Carlo Ancelotti opted to throw on Pippo Inzaghi, Andrea Pirlo and Serginho, but his side seemed to wave the white flag. So much so that both Simone Barone and Di Michele threatened to make a bad night even worse for the away side with dangerous efforts.Palermo, whose ‘keeper Andujar denied Seedorf and Kaká a consolation goal in minute 88, go through to the last four – for only the third time in their history – thanks to a 3-1 aggregate victory.Palermo 3-0 Milan (3-1 on agg)Scorers: Gonzalez 10, 49 (P), Caracciolo 18 (P).