Tardini Tales | Part 9 | Alajbegovic Breaks Serie A Assists Record

An exciting young Parma Calcio side topped Serie A at the halfway mark of their maiden title defence and was looking good to reach the Champions League knockout rounds. Their performances saw Napoli offer manager Alessio Rinaldi an interview and quickly offered him their vacant role – but Rinaldi wasn’t interested and the Parma board kept hold of him with the lure of a new Parma stadium, which he doubted would ever see the light of day.

Title Race Heats Up

Parma began 2029 with a comfortable 2-0 win over Lecce before striker Francesco Pio Esposito scored the only goal at fellow high-flyers Sassuolo, two more against his older brother Sebastiano in a 3-0 win at Cagliari and laid on the third for Pellegrino in their customary domination of Catanzaro. However, a long unbeaten run ended with a surprise 1-0 loss at Cremonese.

That came ahead of the biggest game of the season as Parma hosted Inter in early February. Esposito went close to a goal against his former club only to be denied by a great save, but he made no mistake 5 minutes later, collecting Hamza’s pass and turning to fire into the far corner. And they swiftly doubled the lead as Alajbegovic got down the left and cut back for Mateo Pellegrino to coolly convert. Esposito turned creator after an hour, passing inside for midfielder Sverre Nypan to sweep into the bottom corner. Inter got one back, but Parma secured a huge victory that took them back to the top of the league.

Pellegrino’s penalty nicked a 2-1 win over Atalanta before drawing 1-1 at Monza and slipping to a 2-1 defeat at Juventus. Esposito and Alajbegovic got them back on track with a 2-1 win over Napoli before Esposito inspired a 3-0 win over struggling Palermo. But Parma’s title defence hopes took a hit with a 1-0 defeat at Milan, which moved their city rivals 7 points clear at the top. And the title challenge was seemingly ended with a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Udinese then a 2-2 draw with Fiorentina, as a mass of injuries exposed a lack of quality depth.

That said, after winning eight on the bounce, Inter lost at Roma and then drew with Napoli and Lazio. While Esposito’s second-half strike at Bologna moved Parma just 5 points behind with a game in hand. Alajbegovic and Esposito snuck a 2-1 win at home to Torino while Inter nicked a 1-0 at Atalanta in their penultimate game of the season. Parma’s game in hand was at home to their bogey team Lazio and, alas, a 3-3 draw saw the title race end with a game remaining.

A final-day draw at Roma saw Parma finish 6 points back from Inter – with 3 points more than they got winning the title last season! Parma were again the top scorers in Serie A with 83 goals and they conceded 9 fewer than the previous campaign. Pellegrino was the 3rd-top scorer in the league with 23 goals, only 3 behind Vlahovic, and Alajbegovic set a new league record with 17 assists, surpassing the 13 of Kenan Yildiz. However, the big difference was probably a drop in performance of Zion Suzuki, who’d gone from the best goalkeeper in the league to the 8th best. As a result, Alajbegovic won the Serie A Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year, while Esposito won Striker of the Year, Parma was named Best Club of the Year and Rinaldi won Manager of the Year.

Targeting Champions League Knockouts

A good draw followed in the last 16 as Parma faced Swiss side St. Gallen. Pellegrino, Varela and Alajbegovic earned a comfortable 3-0 away win before a rotated side won 3-1 at home through Roony Bardghji, Pellegrino and Luis Engelns. A much tougher tie followed in the quarter finals against Chelsea, who dominated their home leg but only scored once through Cole Palmer. Chelsea kicked Esposito out of the second leg, which forced a huge tactical switch as Baturina came on. Parma responded well as Alajbegovic’s cross was parried to Pellegrino to tap in, only to allow Chelsea to score their first shot. Despite going on the attack, Parma offered nothing else and conceded in injury time. Chelsea went on to lose to PSG in the semis, then Liverpool beat PSG 1-0 in the Final with Isak’s 86th-minute winner.

Another Strong Season At Parma

Rinaldi was understandably a little disappointed to release the Serie A crown. However, it’s worth remembering the club was still only expected to finish in mid-table by the board and the bookies. He still had an exciting young squad that was massively overachieving.

Pellegrino set a new club record of 31 goals and equalled Alberto Gilardino’s club record of 23 Serie A goals. Esposito wasn’t far behind with 25 goals and an impressive 14 assists, followed by the excellent Alajbegovic with 17 goals and 18 assists. Nypan chipped in with 8 goals and a slightly disappointing 4 assists, Varela scored 8 with 13 assists, Darvich scored 4 goals with 9 assists, Bartesaghi again got 12 assists from left back and Fernandes got 8 assists from right back.

Could Rinaldi continue to strengthen his exciting young Parma squad? And would Inter drop off a level next season to give them a chance? Join us next week to find out!