In Paloschi we trust.

Parma ended it’s good run at home with a loss to 5th place Fiorentina, who got the win with two goals from Adrian Mutu, who was one of three people to be an ex-Parma player. Mutu, goalkeeper Sebastian Frey, and coach Cesare Prandelli were all with Parma at the same time. On the other side of things, Parma’s Reginaldo was an ex-Viola player. More on the game after the jump.

Di Carlo went out with the preferred 4-2-3-1, which may change if Lucarelli arrives. Castellini was back from injury and took is spot at left-back. In the early part of the match Parma had many chances to go in front. There was a moment of chaos where it looked like ping pong in the Viola box, with Parma having every shot saved by Frey or blocked by a defender.

On 16 minutes Andrea Pisanu’s daisy cutter hit the outside of the left post, and later Massimo Paci had a shot that rolled wide.

Central defender Giulio Falcone had to be subbed off and taken to a hospital for head trauma after Bobo Vieri gave him an elbow to the head.

Riccardo Montolivo then made a nice recovery for Fiorentina, turned, and unleashed a shot that Bucci dealt with, putting it out for a corner. From the resulting corner Mutu rose up and got his head on it, but it took a deflection off of Stefano Morrone and bobbled past Bucci.

Mutu made a silence gesture to the crowd and accused them later on of racist chants.

After the half Parma equalized. Luca Cigarini took a free kick outside of the box and found the head of Senegalese right back Ferdinand Coly, who put it past Frey.

However 6 minutes from time Vieri used his experience to gain a penalty. The big striker used some nifty moves in the box and on the slightest of touches from Morrone leaped like a salmon. The referee pointed to the spot and Mutu stepped up, hitting it low to the right corner. Bucci missed it literally by centimeters.

Parma had one last chance towards the end when Andrea Gasbarroni played a low free kick to Luca Cigarini outside the box, who chipped the ball to the far post for Corradi, who headed wide.

The game was over, and Parma remain at 18 points. Next week Parma look to get over their fear of away games by going to Milan and taking on mighty Inter at the San Siro. Should be fun.

RATINGS

Bucci 6 – Not liable for the goals, good performance.

Falcone s.v. – Had to go off for an injury.

Couto 6 – Entered for Falcone and was solid at the back.

Paci 6 – Organized defending and good going forward.

Castellini 6 – Ordinary performance for Castellini. Subbed off for Gasbarroni to look for the tying goal.

Coly 7 – Great game from the full-back. Very aggressive and excellent defending. Scores the goal that tied the game momentarily.

Cigarini 6.5 – So many passes and crosses and the assist for Coly’s goal. A machine.

Mariga 6 – Came on for Pisanu but didn’t do anything special. Ran and that’s it.

Zenoni 6 – Good movement on the flank.

Gasbarroni 6.5 – Came in at half-time and tried to get Parma going. Runs and passes like a crazy guy. Lots of heart.

Morrone 6 – He’s like a scooter, he’s always running around chasing balls.

Corradi 6 – Didn’t finish chances that should’ve been finished.

Pisanu 6.5 – Great game, hit the post and runs like a madman.

Reginaldo 6.5 – Good game from the Brazilian today. Very unlucky.

HIGHLIGHTS

LUCARELLI-WATCH

Rumors are that Parma are in the Ukraine right now finalizing the deal as we speak! Let’s hope it gets done soon!

An interesting thing happened yesterday before the Parma-Livorno game. The Parma fans, clearly upset with the team’s lack of results over the past few weeks, blockaded the entrance to the stadium. When the team bus (in Italian “pullman“) drove up to the stadium entrance to enter, the fans would not let the bus enter and forced the bus to stop and let all the players off, forcing them to walk to the locker rooms on foot while fans shouted at them to win the game. So let’s say the extra motivation for the players yesterday was to win so that they could have the convenience of being driven to the locker rooms every week, and lucky for them, they won.

As the fans sing to the players “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, this story proves that in reality sometimes they may have too..