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Francesco Guidolin's return to the Palermo bench ended an eight-game winless streak at the Stadio Barbera and secured a place in the UEFA Cup, but Siena face a battle to the end to stay in Serie A.
It has been quite a month for Guidolin. The tactician was fired and then brought back three weeks later after Renzo Gobbo saw them slide down the standings. Having been contenders for the leadership, they now risked missing out on UEFA Cup football as well. Yet Siena also needed points, as they hovered just above the relegation zone. Amauri, Aimo Diana and Edison Cavani were injured with the suspended Giuseppe Biava and Fabio Simplicio.
Siena had their first shot on goal after 10 seconds with Luca Antonini and were pouring forward right from the start, but Galloppa fired just over the bar.
Palermo finally came out of their shell as Alex Manninger flew to fingertip a Franco Brienza effort round the post.
As so often happened this season, Siena paid the price for poor finishing, as the Rosanero took the lead with a glorious Eugenio Corini free kick that curled over the wall and dipped mercilessly into the far corner.
That goal woke Palermo up and they began to pour forward with Andrea Caracciolo going close and Manninger parrying a couple more dangerous Corini set-pieces.
Caracciolo scored his fourth goal of the season with an absolutely blistering right-foot strike from 25 metres that slammed into the top corner.
Alberto Fontana hoped to maintain his clean sheet with a late save on Paolo Negro's powerful effort, but there was a late scare.
Massimo Maccarone blasted a free kick into the far top corner with two minutes of stoppages to go, giving Siena a last push for a point.
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