Hammers down and out in Sicily
Palermo reached the second round of the UEFA Cup after thrashing English Premiership club West Ham 3-0.
Brazilian striker Fabio Simplicio scored twice and David Di Michele grabbed the other goal as the Serie A side strolled to a comfortable first round, second leg victory and an emphatic 4-0 aggregate score.
West Ham’s two Argentina internationals, Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez, struggled to make an impact, but the visitors were unlucky not to take the lead before Simplico opened the scoring on the night.
Despite ugly clashes between rival fans in the city centre on Wednesday night, there were no reports of trouble inside the Renzo Barbera stadium.
Palermo keeper Alberto Fontana made a series of fine saves in quick succession to deny Carlton Cole, Hayden Mullins and Marlon Harewood before the home side snatched the lead against the run of play 10 minutes before half time.
A free-kick was tapped short to Simplicio whose low drive took two deflections before flashing past Roy Carroll.
With the Sicilian hosts 2-0 up in the tie, West Ham immediately went on the attack at the start of the second half, and they were almost punished again five minutes after the break.
Di Michele held the ball up cleverly before laying it off for Mark Bresciano whose angled shot was plamed away by Roy Carroll at full stretch.
Palermo were happy to sit back and hit the visitors on the break, and their swift counter-attacking strategy brought them a second goal in the 62nd minute.
Di Michele fed Simplicio with a neat touch on the edge of the penalty box and he lobbed the ball over the advancing Carroll to effectively finish the contest.
It wasn’t long before the excellent Di Michele got among the goals himself, firing past Carroll five minutes later after breaking West Ham’s flimsy offside trap.
Source:Soccer News
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