After scoring the winner yesterday, Parma's unlikely goal hero Michele Messina spoke of his love for the club and how he hopes to remain a Parma player for a long time to come.
"I hope to stay here as long as possible, it's a fantastic environment to work in and to play your football in" The young defender was given the nod yesterday as Luca Cacioli sat out due to suspension, Messina done himself no harm as he looks to cement his place in the team, his wonderful second half strike was enough to secure all three points yesterday, keeping Parma unbeaten and seven points clear at the top. By Giovanni Dougall @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma
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One of Parma's stand out performers yesterday, Davide Giorgino hopes the victory over Lentigione has silenced a few critics.
"Today with this victory and with this performance, we have responded to the criticism form the last few rounds. This Parma is alive and is deservedly at the top of the table. Todays game is a game we could have won by more goals, unfortunately we were just unable to convert the number of chances created" Follow me...... @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma Heavy rain may be the forecast for Parma over the weekend, but not to worry, Parma officially opened the canopy at the Tardini for the disabled section of the crowd.
It will certainly be put to the test this weekend as Parma take on Lentigione at the Tardini in pouring rain, It is an installation that will finally allowed disabled fans of Parma to watch the game in comfort during bad weather. The shelter has been build thanks to a contribution from Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA, there will be an official presentation before kick off on Sunday between the group and Parma officials to mark the shelter as open. The canopy has been a long time coming for Parma's disabled fans as it was something that was promised to them under the old administration, led by Ghirardi, which unsurprisingly was just one of a long line of promises not kept. By Giovanni Dougall Follow me............. @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma Michele Messina speaks of the healthy competition for places in the Parma ranks, as he hopes Luigi Apolloni gives him the nod on Sunday.
"The internal competition between myself, Adorni and Mulas is a great situation that makes each of us work harder which will favour Parma. We're having a good time in training making the coach make a difficult decision for Sunday with Cacioli suspended. Yes, an option would be to move Benassi in to centre back as I am more offensive than defensive, even Longobardi praised me saying my crosses are perfect. I hope to be picked for the next few rounds and to assist more goals for our attackers." Messina then went on to call for focus and concentration as Parma aim to wrap up the title in the coming weeks. "The only risk we run is that of losing concentration thinking that the championship is already won and over, our goal? To win every Sunday." Follow me........ @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma Parma welcome mid table Lentigione to the Tardini on Sunday, the Ducali are arguable on their worst run of the season having picked up just one win in the last five rounds.
Despite the poor form and criticism coach Luigi Apolloni has come under over the past few weeks, his Parma side still remain top of the table and undefeated. Last Sundays 0-0 draw away to Forli saw Parma's lead at the top slashed to seven points as second placed Alto Vicentino kept the pressure on with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Romagna Cenrto. The last time these two met back in October, Parma secured a comfortable 3-0 victory thanks to goals from Luca Cacioli and a double from Cristian Longobardi. Apolloni will have to do without the man who opened the scoring back in October as Luca Cacioli sits this one out, which means the coach will look to either fit again Lorenzo Adorni or youngster Giulio Mulas to play alongside Alessandro Lucarelli at the back. With goals hard to come by in recent weeks, Parma will be delighted to welcome back top scorer Yves Baraye for this one, the Senegalese striker picked up two booking in the draw over Ribelle two weeks ago meaning he was forced to sit out the trip to Forli. As Parma hope to get back to winning ways, Lentigione will be no push overs, having won three of there last five games, Lentigione come into this one still with a chance of a playoff place as they sit just six points off Ribelle in fifth, this after last weekends narrow 2-1 home victory over relegation threatened Mezzolara. Player Watch - Yves Baraye Parma's top scorer will be fired up for this one, having picked up the softest of red cards against Ribelle, Baraye will be out for revenge, despite sitting among the travelling fans on Sunday, Baraye looked a frustrated figure, desperate to be on the pitch. He will be hoping to continue where he left off before his red card against Ribelle and that was with yet another goal. Parma probable XI; Zommers; Benassi, Adorni, Lucarelli, Agrifogli; Miglietta, Giorgino; Ricci, Melandri, Corapi, Baraye. Lorenzo Adorni speaks ahead of this weekends game, talking about his joy of returning to the field and how last weekends point at Forli was an important one.
"On Sunday against Forli when I returned to the field even if only for a few minutes I was a little excited. I was excited because it had been a long time since I had played, and the Forli game was an important one. The draw with Forli I think was a good result that can help us even though we have not won. With the draw earned at Forli we have still managed to keep some distance. Alto Vicentino do concern us, they are chasing us. However we can't look back at them, we have to continue to look forward to achieve our goal. Personally I am very happy with my season, the experience of training with the Juniores Nazionali has been very useful, it has helped me to get back to full fitness during the recovery period from my injury." Follow me......... @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma Speaking ahead of Sunday's clash with Lentigione, the young defender spoke of his desire to be given a chance by coach Luigi Apolloni.
"With the suspension of Cacioli, it means on Sunday, myself, Adorni and Messina have the chance to play. It is a good internal challenge between us, between good friends who like to test each other daily. We are part of a large group of players, at a big club, each day all of us are trying to improve and trying to better ourselves. We have an opportunity at Parma to grow as young players, and now we have the main objective of promotion in site. Mulas then went on to join the queue of Parma players to heap praise on last weekends opponents Forli. "Out of all the teams I've seen at the top this season, Forli are by far the strongest, therefore Sundays draw can be seen as a positive result." Follow me....... @giovannid88 @Solo_Parma https://www.facebook.com/SoloParma/ The summer of 1996 was a time of change for Parma, both on and off the field. After over 400 appearances between them defensive stalwarts Alberto Di Chiara and Lorenzo Minotti were off to pastures new and club president Giorgio Pedraneschi sold up to Italian business man Calisto Tanzi.
Tanzi, the owner of local dairy giant Parmalat had money to burn (or so we thought), his first move was to bring in Carlo Ancelotti replacing he outgoing Nevio Scala on the Parma bench. Ancelotti was practically handed a blank cheque book and French full back Lilian Thuram arrived to join a defence that already included Fabio Cannavaro and a 17 year old Gianluigi Buffon, as well as Thuram, Ancelotti snapped up South America's hottest young talent in Hernan Crespo but the most notable signing that summer came a little closer to home in the form of Sampdoria forward Enrico Chiesa. The young forward was the talk of Serie A, having formed a formidable partnership with Roberto Mancini during the 1995/96 season where Chiesa scored 22 goals in 27 Serie A matches. He was even described by Fabio Capello as "The complete forward" and "A cross between Gianni Riva and Paolo Rossi" praise like this really emphasises how good Chiesa was. His blistering pace and thunderbolt of a shot had the Parma faithful dreaming of Scudetto glory when he teamed up with Hernan Crespo for the start of the 1996/97 season. Ancelotti's reign couldn't have gotten of to a worse start when his side went crashing out of the UEFA Cup, an embarrassing defeat to Portuguese outfit Vitoria de Guimaraes saw Parma exit the competition in the first round. However thing would improve dramatically by the time Serie A got underway. It took Enrico Chiesa just 22 minutes to open his Parma account, as the new look Parma demolished Luigi Simoni's Napoli 3-0 at the Tardini, Chiesa added to Dino Baggio's 14th minute strike before Gianfranco Zola added a third in the closing minutes. Chiesa would go on to find the net a further 13 times, including important goals in 1-0 win's over Inter and Juventus keeping Parma's Scudetto dream alive. Depite Chiesa's goals, Parma's came up short, finishing just two point behind the Turin giants. Despite the heartbreak, Chiesa had a little silver lining as he finish the clubs top scorer that season. Parma were expected to kick on and mount another series challenge for the 1997/98 Scudetto however The Ducali finished a disappointing sixth. While Hernan Crespo was scoring for fun, it was a slow start to the season for Chiesa, who had to patiently wait until week six to open his account in the Derby dell'Emilia scoring in a 2-0 victory over Bologna. Once he started there was no looking back as Chiesa once again topped Parma's scoring charts, hitting the net 21 times in all competitions, including five on the road to the Coppa Italia semi final and a memorable hat trick in Poland to fire Parma into the UEFA Champions League group stage, seeing off Widzew Lodz. 1998/99 would see Alberto Malesani come in replacing Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, it would turn out to be arguably the most memorable season in Parma's history, a large part of that was down to the contribution of Enrico Chiesa. Chiesa and Crespo had now formed a formidable partnership, not only striking fear into their Serie A opponents but the rest of Europe was fearful too whenever these two came to town. Much like the season before it took Chiesa until round five before he would find the net, this time in a comfortable 2-0 home win over Salernitana, Chiesa would only score nine Serie A goal in Malesani's debut season however in Europe he just couldn't stop. His vital goal in Krakow earned Parma a crucial 1-1 draw to take back to the Tardini, where Parma narrowly came through 3-2 on aggregate setting up a third round tie with Glasgow Rangers. After a tough 1-1 draw in Glasgow, Chiesa put the tie out of sight at the Tardini as he scored the third to make it 3-1 (4-2 on aggregate). After demolishing Bordeaux 7-2 in the Quarter Final, Chiesa came into his own as Parma saw off Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, Chiesa scored twice in Madrid securing a 3-1 win for Malesani's men before finding the net once again at the Tardini putting Parma through 5-2 over the two legs. With his tally at seven in Europe for the season, his eighth is one he'll remember forever as Parma travelled to Moscow to face Marseille, Hernan Crespo and Paolo Vanoli put Parma on easy street early on before Chiesa put the cherry on the cake with a sublime third, Juan Sebastian Veron put in a delightful cross, such was the understanding between Crespo and Chiesa, Crespo let the ball run though his legs knowing his strike partner would be there behind him ready to smash the ball high into the roof of the net, a goal that would see Chiesa claim the tournaments top scorer award as well as securing Parma's 1998/99 UEFA Cup victory adding to the Coppa Italia already won that season. That would be the last we would see Chiesa in a Parma shirt as Fiorentina splashed out 14 million Euro's in the summer of 1999 to take him to Tuscany. I think I speak for the majority of Parma fans when I say grazie Enrico, thanks for the memories. By Giovanni Dougall Follow me..... @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma Luigi Apolloni thought a draw was a fair result yesterday, and also defended his decision to bench Francesco Corapi.
"At the end of the day it was the correct result, it was a fair fight, they played with intelligence and knew how to stop is. Corapi Benched? It was a tactical decision, but he'll be back on the field soon, I told him that I expect other great things from him" @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma Ex Forli player Daniele Melandri returned to his old stomping ground on Sunday, despite receiving a great reception from the locals Melandri couldn't hide his frustration at not picking up at three points.
"With Musetti the understanding is good, he is a very smart player. The will to win was there but they were very good today and defended very well" @giovannid86 @Solo_Parma |
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