Parma Calcio came into 2028 looking well in the hunt for European qualification for the third season in a row and having guaranteed knockout football in the Europa League. As a result, Alessio Rinaldo didn’t see too much need for new faces in the January transfer window, choosing to focus on developing his young squad and saving some cash. However, he did sell underperforming wantaway midfielder Adrián Bernabé to Hertha for £6m.
European Excitement
Parma wrapped up Europa League qualification with a 6-1 thrashing of Djurgardens, including a goal by homegrown striker Marini and a hat trick by wonderkid winger Kerim Alajbegovic. And, despite a rotated team losing 4-2 at Lille, they qualified in 4th place, only behind Bournemouth, Newcastle and Celtic.
The round of 16 saw Parma again take on Lille, the only team to have beaten them in the competition so far. But the first team returned for the away leg and an Alajbegovic double secured a 4-2 victory before Pellegrino repeated the feat in an easy 3-1 home win. An all-Italian tie followed as they faced Torino in the quarter finals and giant centre back Auréle Amenda’s header earned a 1-1 in a tight game in Turin. The home leg was equally tight until Cardoso Varela and Luis Engelns goals secured a deserved 2-0 win.
However, the run was likely to end there as Parma drew Spurs while Bodo/Glimt faced Montpellier in the other semi. The home leg was up first and Parma should have been ahead as Pellegrino skewed an easy chance miles wide after 5 minutes. They did take the lead as Amenda powered home a header from a freekick before enduring a Spurs barrage, which eventually paid off through Simons on 56 minutes, only for Martim Fernandes to fly down the right from kickoff and cross for Pellegrino to head in. Spurs went in front with another massive deflection before Pellegrino hit the bar and Kudus killed the tie off. Based on the league matters below, Rinaldi accepted the tie was done and rotated the first 11 and they lost a wild game 6-3.
Parma Hijack Milanese Title Race
2028 began with a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Fiorentina before Martin Baturina, top scorer Mateo Pellegrino and Alajbegovic earned a comfortable 3-1 win over Lecce. Pellegrino powered in a header to open the scoring at home to Spezia and, despite racking up a massive 27 shots, that was all they needed. Promising wingers Varela and Mikkel Bro Hansen both scored in a 3-1 win at struggling Sassuolo before Pellegrino’s header earned a point at Juventus, and Rinaldi’s tactical tweaks inspired a 1-0 win over Roma.
That was part of a six-game winning streak, including holding midfielder Christian Ordóñez’s first goal for two years nicking a 2-1 at Udinese, a 3-0 win at Catanzaro securing a 10-1 aggregate victory over the two games this season and a 4-1 crushing of Torino. The strong form ended as the European knockouts began, as a rotated side lost 2-1 at Como before Ordóñez scored again to earn a 2-2 at Lazio. But they recovered at home to bottom-side Pisa with an early own goal, Pellegrino’s header and Alajbegovic tapping in from a goalkeeping howler before Pisa scored an absolute screamer. Alajbgovic’s delicious 25-yard freekick and a superb finish by Bro Hansen wrapped up a superb 5-1 win that lifted Parma firmly back into the title race.
A big win over Fiorentina took Parma up to 2nd with 3 games remaining, level on points with Inter and 3 points clear of Milan in what was very much a three-horse title race. However, Parma had to play both the Milan sides and Napoli away.
Game 1 – AC Milan (3rd, away): The run-in began with a tough trip to San Siro, prior to which Inter lost 2-1 at Torino to blow the title race wide open. Parma got a flyer on 6 minutes as a freekick broke to Varela to fire into the far corner and, completely against the run of play, was denied a second in injury time by a superb save. Pellegrino fired a huge chance over the bar five minutes after the break but, despite being dominated by 20 shots to 10, a defensive masterclass secured a huge 1-0 win that took Parma top of the league with 4 games remaining!
Game 2 – Inter (2nd, home): Three days on from the Spurs home leg disappointment, Parma welcomed Inter to the Tardini. The match got off to a crazy start as Barella scored inside 90 seconds, but Parma went down the other end and Ordóñez immediately fired them level. Inter restored their lead late in the half with a freekick. Rinaldi went into all-out attack mode, pushing Baturina forwards and it delivered as the midfielder converted at the near post. However, the referee gifted Inter a penalty for handball, handing them a 3-2 win and took them top of the league.
Game 3 – Napoli (4th, away): Inter beat Sassuolo 2-1 before another huge away day at 2026 champions Napoli. Parma were handed a flying start as a dreadful header gave Alajbegovic an open goal. Another ridiculous penalty decision went against them and Lukaku scored it, but responded well as Ordóñez headed home a rebound. Alajbegovic hit the bar with a wonderful solo effort before Ordóñez’s clever reverse pass found Noah Darvich to calmly slot into the bottom corner. And Parma sealed a massive 3-1 win.
Game 4 – Atalanta (14th, home): The run-in didn’t get much easier as Parma hosted Atalanta in their final home game on Rinaldi’s 44th birthday. Atalanta started brightly, but Parma landed the first blow as Alajbegovic picked out Varela to smash into the top corner. They defended superbly and held out for a 1-0 victory to take the Serie A title fight to the final day.
Game 5 – Cagliari (13th, away): Inter and Parma went into the final day on 79 points with Milan a further 3 points back – and the title is decided by results against each other, which means the dodgy penalty Inter got late on at Parma could be pivotal. Parma travelled to Cagliari, while Inter hosted relegation-battling Spezia and Milan visited 6th-place Torino. They started well as Darvich’s shot bounced off the post and into the path of Alajbegovic to tap in after 35 seconds. Parma went into the break 1-0 up, while Inter were still 0-0. However, Inter scored after 59 minutes and Cagliari equalised 6 minutes later. Alajbegovic doubled his tally with a brilliant finish on 74 minutes, but Inter had doubled their lead.
That saw Parma finish level with Inter. Rinaldi wasn’t sure whether that meant they’d missed out on the title or not… and eventually discovered they hadn’t, as a Title Playoff was arranged at Inter on 28 May. Parma finished on 82 points after 26 wins, 4 draws and 8 defeats, scoring a league-high 84 goals and conceding 44.
Title Playoff – Inter away: The biggest game in Parma history took them to Inter for a one-off game to win their maiden Scudetto title. Rinaldi had a clean bill of health and lined up:
Suzuki; Fernandes, Circati, Amenda, Bartesaghi; Lipani; Ordóñez, Darvich; Varela, Alajbegovic, Pellegrino
Subs: Marini, Rinaldi, Engelns, Della Rovere, Bro Hansen, Baturina, Fjortoft Lovik, Schuurs, Pajsar, Britschgi
Parma got a dream start as they went straight on the attack from kick off and Ordóñez slid Alajbegovic to spank it in off the underside of the bar after 24 seconds! Thuram equalised after 7 minutes, with a goal that looked dubiously offside, but Parma restored their lead as Pellegrino’s header bounced down to Amenda to tap home. They saw off huge Inter pressure, with Suzuki making some big saves before claiming a corner, setting the boys off on a counter and Alajbegovic teed up Ordóñez to make it 3-1 after 82 minutes. However, the ref again decided to give a dodgy penalty in injury time, but Suzuki saved from Lautaro! From the next attack, Torres turned a cross home to make things nervy… but Parma held on.
Parma won their maiden Serie A title!!
Rinaldi unsurprisingly won Serie A manager of the year, while Bartesaghi was defender of the year and Darvich was midfielder of the year. Pellegrini was the joint 3rd-top scorer with 20 and 3rd top assister with 12, while Alajbegovic was 6th-top scorer with an impressive 19 and 4th-top assister with 11 and Darvich made the most open play key passes with 78 ahead of Varela on 76.
Rinaldi Brings Unbelievable Success To Parma
This had been an unbelievable season in which Parma not only pushed the big boys close but more than earned their shot at the title with some big wins late in the season. And the final-day win at Inter to claim the title was a truly magical moment.
Their key men were very much Alajbegovic, who led the way with 29 goals and 15 assists in 51 games, and Pellegrino, who excelled up front with 25 goals and 12 assists. Baturina delivered 12 goals from midfield, Varela scored 10 with 12 assists, Amenda scored a crucial 9 goals from centre back, Darvich scored 7 with 9 assists and Davide Bartesaghi racked up 12 assists from left back.
The potential at Parma was proven by Bro Hansen pipping Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha and Bayern’s Gilberto Mora to win NxGn 2028. Varela was named in 9th, amid a mass of Real Madrid and Barcelona youngsters and interestingly, a fair amount of Amerian newgens. Parma also had a good youth intake led by elite prospect midfielder Daniel Di Lorenzo and top talents winger Paolo Virdis, holding midfielder Vito Nessi and goalkeeper Maurizio Corona.
Parma’s continued overachievement saw chairman Kyle Krause hand Rinaldi a new four-year contract on £35k per week through to 2032. He also agreed to spend £4.9m on improving the club’s training facilities and boost its youth recruitment to an “established” level.
But had Rinaldi peaked by achieving such rapid success at Parma? He was delighted with the progress of his young stars, especially the absolute superstar that is Kerim Alajbegovic. The German winger only cost £14.5m, but delivered 30 goal contributions in Serie A and scored 10 in 13 in the Europa League!
Rinaldi was excited for the future at Parma, but very much doubted whether they’d be able to defend their title. But could they build in the summer and reach new levels in 2028/29? Join us on Wednesday to find out!
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