Palermo beat Parma 5-4 in a penalty shootout Tuesday to advance to the semifinals of the Coppa Italia. In the two-leg semifinals, Palermo will face either Sampdoria or AC Milan which play Wednesday.
Before the shootout, Palermo’s talented Argentina striker Javier Pastore had numerous chances, most notably on consecutive occasions in the 83rd and 84th minutes, first with a shot that was deflected just wide by Parma goalkeeper Nicola Pavarini, then dribbling past three defenders before shooting into the side of the net.
After Francesco Valiani fired over for Parma, the pressure was on Palermo’s 17-year-old Daniel Martinez, but Martinez made no mistake to send Palermo into the semi-finals.
