Floriana scored two goals in each half as they defeated ten-man Santa Lucia 4-0 at the Tony Bezzina Stadium on Sunday.
Both sides had two Italian coaches making their debut – Mauro German Camoranesi for Floriana and Alessandro Zinnari for Sana Lucia.
Camoranesi opted to hand the debut to four new signings – Dunstan Vella, Matheus Sousa, Maksim Valadzko and Alexandros Kouro. On the other hand, Zinnari had nine new faces in the starting line-up for Santa Lucia with the only two players from last year’s squad to start the game being Jurgen Pisani and Jan Tanti.
The Greens took the lead on the 27th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Sven Xerri was adjudged to have fouled Ulises Arias inside the area and from the penalty spot, Arias made no mistake.
Two minutes later, Matheus Souza served Jan Busuttil on the right and the latter beat goalkeeper Celio with an angled shot.
To make matters worse for Santa Lucia, Steve Pisani was sent off three minutes from the end of the first half for an apparent attempt to hit Arias.
Six minutes in the second half, Floriana extended the lead. Following a long-distance cross by Jan Busuttil, Matheus Souza’s angled shot was blocked and off the rebound, Kemar Reid slotted the ball past the Santa Lucia goalkeeper.
On the 78th, the Greens were awarded another penalty for an apparent handling of the ball by a defender but Matheus Souza’s effort from the penalty spot was blocked by Celio.
However ten minutes later, Floriana made it 4-0 courtesy of a Kyrian Nwoko header off a cross by Adam Magri Overend.
Three minutes in added time, substitute Mattia Veselji was unlucky to hit the upright with a shot from outside the area.
