Palermo cruised to victory over Maribor in their Europa League qualifier first-leg clash.

Palermo did Serie A proud as they eased past Maribor 3-0.

The floodgates opened once Marko Pridigar was dismissed for the visitors on 35 minutes and Massimo Maccarone stroked home the resulting penalty.

Abel Hernandez added a second moments later and Javier Pastore wrapped up a comfortable night's work for the Italians 13 minutes from time.

Rosanero coach Delio Rossi said afterwards: "The first match of the tie went well. We suffered in the first 20 minutes.

"We played against a good side, even if we had a psychological advantage over them. After the first goal, we helped to shape the match somewhat.

"With more determination and luck, we could have closed the tie off this evening. The ideal result would have been 4-0. The way the match was being played suggested that a fourth goal could have been scored."

The former Lazio coach also gave his thoughts on the performance of the defence.

"It is not a major problem. Any issues that arise generally come down to the personnel chosen to play. We only suffered in the first 20 minutes because of a tactical problem.

"It is not easy to play in front of 30,000 people, but [Kamil] Glik got better as time went on. We chose to play him because he has had more time with us to prepare."