© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, two matches of the 15th round took place in the Italian championship. "Palermo" convincingly defeated the neighbors in the standings, "Livorno", while "Reggina" won an important victory in a duel against the outsiders "Ascoli".
"Palermo" ended their series of failures at home by crushing Tom Danilevicius' team "Livorno" with a score of 3-0.
The hosts took the lead already in the third minute of the match. "Livorno" player Stefano Morrone lost the ball in the middle of the field, allowing the "Palermo" team to launch a counterattack, at the end of which Fabio Simplicio put the Sicilian club in front.
Half an hour in, the hosts doubled their lead. Australian Mark Bresciano crossed the ball into the opponent's penalty area, where Amauri header beat the opponent's goalkeeper Marco Amelia.
In the second half, David Di Michele struck at the opponent's goal from 20 meters, but the ball hit the crossbar. Nevertheless, in the 79th minute, the Sicilians managed to score their third goal, when Fabio Simplicio found the top corner with his shot.
After this goal, the "Livorno" coach brought Tom Danilevicius onto the field, but the Lithuanian national team forward could not save his team.
"Reggina" secured a very important victory against "Ascoli" with a score of 2-1 and reduced the gap from this club to one point.
The match started with dangerous crosses from "Reggina" defender Leone into the opponent's penalty area, and one of them ended in a goal. In the 29th minute, Alessandro Lucarelli received a pass from a Honduran and sent the ball into the net with his head.
The hosts sealed the victory in the 78th minute, when Nicola Amoruso, after receiving a pass from Rolando Bianchi, outwitted the opponents' defender and goalkeeper and sent the ball into the empty net.
However, after 6 minutes, "Ascoli" managed to reduce the gap thanks to Marco Pecorari's precise left-footed shot.
Saturday's match results:
3 - 0
3` [1 - 0] Fabio Simplicio
36` [2 - 0] Amauri
79` [3 - 0] Fabio Simplicio
2 - 1
29` [1 - 0] Alessandro Lucarelli
78` [2 - 0] Nicola Amoruso
84` [3 - 0] Marco Pecorari
Top scorers of the championship:
1-2. Christian Rigano ("Messina") - 9;
Francesco Totti ("Roma") - 9;
3-4. Rolando Bianchi ("Palermo") - 8;
Amauri ("Palermo") - 7;
5-6.Vincenzo Iaquinta ("Udinese") - 7;
Gionathan Spinesi ("Catania") - 7;
7-12. Igor Budan ("Parma") - 6;
Hernan Crespo ("Inter") - 6;
Adrian Mutu ("Fiorentina") - 6;
Eugenio Corini ("Palermo") - 6;
Fabio Quagliarella ("Sampdoria") - 6;
Luca Toni ("Fiorentina") - 6.
