Parma Calcio endured a tricky start to Alessio Rinaldi’s second season in football management. But, despite giving up countless shots per match, they’d just about snuck a few results and went on a solid run before Christmas.
Rinaldi looked to strengthen in January, starting by moving on centre back Abdoulaye Ndiaye to Saudi for £3m and young midfielder Elia Plicco to Genoa for £1.4m. In their place came Croatian midfielder Martin Baturina, who’d requested to leave Como and joined for £9m, and 6ft 6in centre back Auréle Amenda for up to £4m from Frankfurt.
Outside Champions League Qualification Chance
Parma still had a shot at qualification from the Champions League league phase going into the final two games. First up, they hosted Shakhtar and started well as Mateo Pellegrini headed home Ansu Fati’s cross and Marc Guiu doubled the lead inside 8 minutes. Shakhtar got one back to worry Rinaldi, given they’d already thrown away two-goal leads twice in the competition, but captain Enrico Delprato turned home from a freekick. Guiu doubled his tally just after the break, then beat four men to run from the halfway line and wrap up his hat trick and the biggest win of Rinaldi’s reign.
They wrapped up with a trip to Czechia to face Slavia and started brightly, with Fati somehow hitting the post from 10 yards out, Guiu having a goal ruled out for offside and Adrián Bernabé hitting the bar. Rinaldi went for it in the second half, throwing Pellegrino up top alongside Guiu, and it worked as a cross fell for Bernabé to score from six yards out and he cut inside from a corner to double his tally.
Those two wins were enough to shoot Parma all the way up to 19th in the table, finishing on 11 points ahead of the likes of Napoli, Benfica and Atalanta. However, they got probably the worst draw possible against Bayern Munich. The home leg was up first, and Parma got an unexpected flyer as loanee winger Kerim Alajbegovic tapped in following a great Bernabé run. They defended heroically and it could have even better as they hit the post twice in injury time, but had to settle for a 1-0 victory.
Rinaldi rested the first 11 for a trip to Juve (and of course lost 2-0) to keep them fresh. Olise left Valeri for dead to open the scoring after 15 minutes and Bayern absolutely dominated. They held out until Pellegrino gave the ref a chance to have an impact and he obliged, showing the winger a harsh straight red, and Parma instantly crumbled by giving up an own goal. And, despite a really good effort, Parma were out of Europe. But for context, Kane and Musiala’s £375k-per-week wages are more than half of Parma’s entire budget of £718k, so this was a pretty good effort.
Another Tough League Spell
2027 began with two really tough games as Parma lost 1-0 at Napoli, but centre back Perr Schuurs nicked a surprise 2-1 win at home to previously unbeaten Inter. Brenner nicked a 1-1 at Torino and Guiu did the same at home to Atalanta before earning a dull 0-0 at Fiorentina, and a tricky spell continued with a 2-0 loss at Bologna and 2-2 at home to Torino. But that poor run ended with Lipani’s first goal for the club nicking a tame 1-0 at home to Pisa.
Having put the European distractions behind them, Parma put in a superb display to lead Roma 2-0 through Pellegrino and Guiu. Alessandro Circati headed home a free kick before giving up a late consolation – and still somehow allowing 18 shots. Baturina notched his first goal early on in a trip to Monza before pathetic play by Fati gifted an equaliser. But Parma dominated and went on to win 4-2 thanks to Amenda’s first goal for the club.
That sparked Parma into life, including Guiu’s hat trick inspiring a win over Lazio and Fati, L Engelns and Amenda inspiring a dominant 3-0 win at Sampdoria. They took a battering at Inter before earning a 1-1 with an underperforming Napoli, who’d gone from champions to being 13th! A 2-0 win at Lecce secured at least a top-half finish before Fati earned an entertaining 2-2 at home to Milan.
Alajbegovic scored the first and laid on the second for Pellegrino to earn a 2-0 win on Parma’s final away day at Genoa, which guaranteed European football. That took them into a final-day clash at home to relegation-threatened Udinese, sitting level on points with Torino and 1 point behind Milan in 4th. Parma started well as Alajbegovic’s wonderful run from an Udinese corner led to an own goal and Pellegrino’s long-range effort crept under the keeper. Udinese got back into it with an unlucky own goal, then scored a deflected long-range shot from a corner to earn a deserved point.
That slightly disappointing result summed up a season that promised plenty but was largely frustrating. That said, Parma still finished 6th on 62 points (8 fewer than last season), after 16 wins, 14 draws and 8 defeats (3 fewer wins and 2 more defeats). They scored 52 and conceded 38, which was 4 more and 12 more than last season. Roma, who only drew once all season, secured the title on the final day as they and Inter both lost.
Parma didn’t really stack up in any of the league stats, conceding the 4th-fewest goals and scoring the 6th-most. The most alarming stat was giving up the 2nd-most shots (662 or 17.4 per game), while Zion Suzuki again led the way in the goalkeeping stats, won the Goalkeeper of the Year “F.Pulici” award and was named in the Serie A Team of the Year.
Another Season of Overperformance
Rinaldi knew Parma would drop off from last season’s high, but was still surprised they managed to finish as high as 6th. He’d been disappointed by some signings, especially Fati, who only delivered 7 goals and 5 assists in 40 games, and some of the young midfielders hadn’t really delivered. Guiu was very inconsistent, despite leading the way with 17 goals in 45 games, followed by Pellegrino (12) and Alajbeovic and Brenner (6). Valeri led the way with 12 assists followed by Alajbegovic’s 11. Positives included Amenda, who had a 7.11 rating in 17 games, and the impressive Suzuki, who had a 7.14 rating from 44 games.
Rinaldi knew plenty of work would be required in the summer, as he looked to remove the reliance on loan signings like Guiu and Fati. He was also keen to reduce the age of the squad and move on any underperformers.
But could Parma continue to overachieve as they looked to compete in Europe? Join us next week to find out!
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