Serie B promotion play-offs: Palermo see off Sampdoria

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Susy Campanale | Last updated May 17, 2024 5:14 PM ET

Palermo are in the Serie B promotion play-off semi-final and will face Venezia after sweeping Andrea Pirlo’s Sampdoria aside 2-0.

The Rosanero had the home advantage after finishing higher up the Serie B table during the regular season.

Salim Diakite was the hero of the hour in Sicily, as he scored both goals with a finish just before half-time and then tapping in the Kristoffer Lund cross after the restart.

Italy Under-21 international goalkeeper Sebastiano Desplanches had to make a few tricky saves to keep the two-goal cushion intact, while a third Palermo goal was disallowed for Federico Di Francesco’s offside position.

Palermo will therefore play Venezia in the promotion play-off semi-final with the first leg in Sicily on May 20 and the decider on the Laguna on May 24.

The next preliminary match is Catanzaro-Brescia on Saturday evening, with the winner going on to face Cremonese in the semi-final.

Parma and Como have already earned automatic promotion to Serie A for the 2024-25 campaign, so there is one place left to make the step up via the play-offs.

Palermo 2-0 Sampdoria

Diakite 43, 47 (P)

17-05-2024 19:30 1/4 Final Stadio Renzo Barbera

Palermo

Sampdoria 2 - 0

Player statistic

1st half

Salim Diakite (Assist: Matteo Luigi Brunori)		43'
		45+3'		Fabio Depaoli

2nd half

Salim Diakite (Assist: Kristoffer Lund)

47' Sebastiano Desplanches 70' Kristoffer Lund 86' 86'

Petar Stojanovic

Match statistic

42 Possession % 58 16 Total shots 11 4 Shots on target 4 7 Shots off target 5 5 Blocked shots 2 5 Corners 7 3 Offsides 3 20 Fouls 7 Palermo Sampdoria

Starting lineups

1 Sebastiano Desplanches Goalkeeper 5

Fabio Lucioni Defender 3 Kristoffer Lund Defender 32 Pietro Ceccaroni Defender 20' 23 Salim Diakite Defender 2 Simon Graves Defender 14 Filippo Ranocchia Midfielder 78' 8

Jacopo Segre Midfielder 27 Edoardo Soleri Attacker 78' 9 Matteo Luigi Brunori Attacker 78' 11

Roberto Insigne Attacker 65' 1 Filip Stankovic Goalkeeper 2

Cristiano Piccini Defender 56' 87 Daniele Ghilardi Defender 23

Fabio Depaoli Defender 55' 33 Facundo González Defender 21 Simone Giordano Defender 57' 28 Gerard Yepes Midfielder 8

Matteo Ricci Midfielder

75' 16

Fabio Borini Attacker 9 Manuel De Luca Attacker 7 Sebastiano Esposito Attacker

Substitutes

Leo Stulac Midfielder 10 Francesco Di Mariano Attacker Chaka Traorè Attacker 20 Aljosa Vasic Attacker 25 Alessio Buttaro Defender 22 Mirko Pigliacelli Goalkeeper 31 Giuseppe Aurelio Midfielder 15 Ivan Marconi Defender 20' 4

Claudio Gomes Midfielder 65' 17

Federico Di Francesco Attacker 78' 53

Liam Henderson Midfielder 78' 7 Leonardo Mancuso Attacker 78' 13

Andrea Conti Defender 10 Valerio Verre Midfielder 25

Alex Ferrari Defender 4

Ronaldo Vieira Midfielder 5

Kristoffer Askildsen Midfielder 22 Nicola Ravaglia Goalkeeper 19 Agustín Álvarez Attacker 46 Giovanni Leoni Defender 40

Petar Stojanovic Defender 55' 80

Leonardo Benedetti Midfielder 56' 3

Antonio Barreca Defender 57' 14

Pajtim Kasami Midfielder

75'