Serie A: Palermo battle back for 2-1 victory over Hellas Verona

Palermo came from behind to beat Hellas Verona 2-1 at the Stadio Renzo Barbera and climb to seventh place in Serie A.

Panagiotis Tachtsidis gave 14th-placed Verona the lead with a header inside eight minutes but Palermo's in-form striker Paulo Dybala's exquisite finish ensured the scores were level at half-time.

The promoted Palermo to push hard for a winner throughout the second half and they were ultimately rewarded 11 minutes from time as substitute Andrea Belotti converted Franco Vazquez's cross.

The victory boosts Giuseppe Iachini's men to within four points of the final Europa League berth after 21 games of the season.

Verona suffered an early setback as Jacopo Sala was forced to limp off with an injury for Lazaro Christodoulopoulos in the fifth minute.

It would not hold them back for long, though, with Tachtsidis managing to score the opener just three minutes later as he headed home Leandro Greco's corner.

Another 10 minutes passed and Dybala fired his 11th goal of the season to draw Palermo level.

After collecting the ball from a free-kick, the prolific Argentinian twisted his body before beating Francesco Benussi with a cool finish.

Palermo dominated the half from that point on but while they went close to notching a second through Edgar Barreto just before the break, they did get lucky when Verona's Luca Toni missed an open goal.

The Sicilians remained on top following the restart and Benussi did well to handle Vazquez's dangerous cross before the hour mark with Dybala soon drawing a difficult low save from the goalkeeper.

Palermo continued to turn the screw and got their reward in the 79th minute as substitute Belotti turned the game on its head.

Vazquez is more accustomed to supplying assists for strike partner Dybala but this time his cross from the left met Belotti's head and the 21-year-old from Lombardy did the rest.

With time ticking away Argentinian veteran Javier Saviola did threaten to score a last-gasp leveller for Hellas, with only Stefano Sorrentino's brave intervention safeguarding all three points for the hosts.