Bari leapt five places to seventh in Serie A after defeating 10-man Palermo at the Stadio San Nicola.

Leonardo Bonucci and Edgar Alvarez gave the hosts a two-goal lead within the first seven minutes, but strikes from Edison Cavani and Javier Pastore either side of half time brought Palermo level.

A red card to midfielder Fabio Liverani in the 56th minute tipped the scales back in Bari's favour before a penalty from Paulo Barreto and a fourth goal from Vladimir Koman earned them all three points to get them back in the reckoning for a place in Europe next season.

Bari were extremely quick out of the blocks and they laid siege to the Palermo goal from the whistle.

Their early lead was more than deserved as Bonucci netted his first goal of the season in the fifth minute.

He turned and struck a left-footed shot into the top corner of the goal from 16 yards after Palermo failed to clear a corner.

Little over a minute passed before Bari doubled their advantage through Alvarez.

Riccardo Allegretti stole the ball from Liverani in the midfield and threaded the ball from his own half into the path of Alvarez, who did not disappoint with just Salvatore Sirigu to beat.

Bari threatened to run riot with the next chance falling to Barreto just moments later, but his first touch was not good enough and the chance went begging.

Palermo needed to react and they did with Fabrizio Miccoli striking the outside of the post with a direct free-kick which had beaten Bari goalkeeper Jean-Francois Gillet in the 13th minute.

It was the Rosaneri's turn to attack and their persistence was rewarded in the 28th minute when Cavani put the finishing touch to an excellently-worked team move.

A succession of passes saw Pastore feed Federico Balzaretti down the left. The former Juventus full-back's low cross tempted Cavani to lunge at the ball and place it into the empty net.

The tide had changed and Palermo deservedly levelled in the 54th minute with Pastore scoring his first goal in Italian football.

He tied Alessandro Gazzi into a knot, turning right and then left before placing his shot into the far corner from just inside the penalty area.

The next twist in the game followed just two minutes later when Liverani was shown his second yellow card, leaving the Sicilians with 10 men for over half an hour.

And Bari accepted this gift to go ahead with an hour played after Salvatore Masiello was fouled by Cristian Melinte as he entered the penalty area.

Barreto stepped up to beat Gillet from the stop and score his 11th goal of the season.

Bari should have wrapped the game up 10 minutes later when Alvarez was sent through on goal again, but Sirigu denied him.

But substitute Koman did not waste his chance to seal the win in the 85th minute as he beat Gillet with a composed finish after Barreto's back-heel had set him up inside the penalty area.

Pastore almost brought Palermo back into the game in stoppage time, but Gillet denied him and saved Bari from a nervous finish.