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On Friday in the Italian league there were 22 match of the 22nd round. It was the Sicilian derby overshadowed by incidents off the field, in which "Palermo" triumphed with a score of 2-1 against the "Catania" club.
The game was played on Friday due to the weekend during the holy festival of Saint Agatha in Sicily. There were concerns about the safety of the match, and those concerns were justified, as the match was even temporarily suspended due to problems between the fans.
The first half did not stand out with a wealth of chances. The initiative belonged to the "Catania" team, however, the team failed to take advantage of the opportunities and the players went to rest with a 0-0 scoreline.
The deadlock was broken in the 55th minute. "Palermo" managed to push forward despite the opponents controlling the pace of the match at that moment. Mark Bresciano broke into the opponents' penalty area and passed the ball to an unmarked Andrea Caracciolo, who sent the ball into the far corner of the goal with his left foot. The "Catania" players rushed to protest for offside, but the referee allowed the goal.
At that moment, there were disturbances in the stands. After the goal, disgruntled "Catania" fans began to throw rockets at the just arrived opponents' fans, who also retaliated, and tear gas spread in the stadium stopping the match. Players from both teams ran to the locker rooms, and the match resumed on the field only after half an hour.
This break was beneficial for the "Catania" team, as the club immediately managed to equalize the score. Fabio Caserta unleashed a powerful shot and the ball flew into the top corner of the goal. The score was now 1-1 and the match was open again. Shortly after, Giuseppe Mascara almost scored one of the most beautiful goals of the season when he saw that the opponent's goalkeeper was far from the goal, he tried to chip the ball into the goal with a long shot, but missed the goal by just a few centimeters.
Then "Palermo" managed to score another controversial goal. In the 83rd minute, Eugenio Corini's shot hit the "Catania" defender and bounced to David Di Michele's hand. However, the referee's whistle was silent and the forward scored the winning goal of the match.
After the match, the conflict between the fans at the stadium unfortunately did not end and spilled over beyond its boundaries. One death was recorded during the brawl among the fans - a policeman trying to maintain order.
The most productive players in the league:
- Francesco Totti ("Roma") - 13 goals;
- Gionathan Spinesi ("Catania") - 11 goals;
- Luca Toni ("Fiorentina") - 11 goals;
- Adrian Mutu ("Fiorentina") - 10 goals;
- Rolando Bianchi ("Fiorentina") - 10 goals;
- Cristiano Doni ("Atalanta") - 10 goals;
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic ("Inter") - 10 goals;
- Fabio Quagliarella ("Sampdoria") - 9 goals;
- Christian Rigano ("Messina") - 9 goals;
- Vincenzo Iaquinta ("Udinese") - 9 goals;
- Tommaso Rocchi ("Lazio") - 9 goals;
- Amauri ("Palermo") - 8 goals;
- Igor Budan ("Parma") - 8 goals;
- Cristiano Lucarelli ("Livorno") - 8 goals.
