Munoz wins it for Palermo
Palermo ended their Europa League campaign with victory a 1-0 at Lausanne Sports.
Substitute Ezequiel Munoz's 84th-minute goal was good enough to secure the Italians' triumph at the Olympique de la Pontaise stadium and condemn the Swiss outfit to their sixth defeat in the competition.
Both sides went into the final Group F game having already fallen out of contention for a place in the next round and had only pride to play for.
Palermo coach Delio Rossi, with his team's last Serie A game of 2010 coming up on Sunday at Bari, made wholesale changes to the team that beat Parma 3-1 at the weekend and his young side conjured up very little against the leakiest defence in the group stage.
The hosts controlled the opening stages and in the third minute Carlos Silvio's right-footed strike from outside the area went wide.
Shortly after, Lausanne captain Fabio Celestini went closer with his bullet strike from the edge of the area going just past the far post.
Palermo were unlucky not to take the lead before the half-hour mark as Joao Pedro's shot from the heart of the area hit the crossbar with Lausanne goalkeeper Anthony Favre already beaten.
At the other end, Favre did well to save Giuseppe Prestia's powerful header from a corner.
Favre remained involved and had to fully stretch to clear Patjim Kasami's left-footed effort from the edge of the area.
Lausanne could have taken the lead before half-time but Guillaume Katz's header from Martin Steuble's cross was met by a fine save from Palermo goalkeeper Francesco Benussi.
The Italians controlled possession after the restart and should have gone in front in the 51st minute.
Fabio Liverani fed Kasami inside the area and his central effort was kept out by Favre.
Shortly after the hour mark, Liverani this time tried his luck from outside the area but his effort did not trouble Favre.
Palermo finally broke the deadlock with six minutes remaining as Munoz's perfect header from Liverani's cross beat Favre, and the Italian visitors held on for victory.
Lausanne Sports 0-1 Palermo: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game as it happened.
Source: DSG
