Match day 20 of the 1991/92 season threw up an unexpected mouth-watering clash. Claudio Ranieri’s high flying Napoli made the trip north to face Serie A’s continued surprise package, Parma.
Napoli came in to this fixture having lost just twice all season. Luigi De Agostini ‘s strike at home to Juventus and a hefty defeat at the San Siro they’d like to forget as Milan put five past them, in a 5-0 rout. Since the San Siro slaughter Ranieri’s side had won three of their previous four before the trip to the Tardini. As for the hosts, Parma were enjoying just their second stint in Serie A. Nevio Sacala’s gialloblu had lost just one of their previous six fixtures before welcoming Napoli to the Tardini. The sides shared the spoils earlier in the season, as they put on a four goal thriller. The game ending 2-2 with Parma’s Swedish midfielder Tomas Brolin securing a point for Parma. The first half was a tale of two penalties. Napoli’s Brazilian forward Careca was tormenting Parma in the opening stages along with Gianfranco Zola. Within twenty minutes, Naploi were in front. Careca danced past a wild challenge from Georges Grun, who threw himself into a side tackle, as Careca made his way into the box Grun made it back on to his feet and again launched into a clumsy slide tackle, this time he upended the Brazilian. Cool as you like, Careca sent his fellow countryman, Claudio Taffarel the wrong way as he passed the ball into the net from twelve yards. Moments later some shambolic defending allowed Zola to send Careca clean through on Taffarel, Careca had the whole half of the pitch to himself, however the on rushing goalkeeper managed to smother him, before Parma rushed back in numbers to see out the danger. Against the run of play the hosts managed to drag themselves back into the match, Sandro Melli stepped up when Parma were awarded a penalty of their own. With five minutes left before half time Melli struck the ball right through the goalkeeper to square the game up at 1-1. Nevio Scala’s words of wisdom at half time seemed to work. Parma began to pepper Napoli’s goal with various chances, however none clear cut. Parma’s dominance finally paid off. Georges Grun found himself getting on the end of a cross ball in the 90th minute, the Belgian defender bulleted the ball home from close range to redeem himself and secure all three points for Parma. The two sides meet again this week. With Parma struggling for form they would take a repeat of the 1991/92 result as former boss Carlo Ancelotti comes to town. The last time these two met, Napoli steamrollered Parma in what was arguably one of their easies games of the season when they ran out 3-0 winners at the San Paolo.
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Here’s what the coach had to say about last nights incredible 3-3 draw in Turin. “To come here and draw with Juve must make us proud. At one point, were down by two but we managed to come back. This shows that our group has great value. I believed from when the team went out in the second half, we needed to show the attitude from the first 15 minutes before we dropped off a but. That was in part due to the quality of the opponent who pegged us back in our own area but it was also due to our attitude. When you take on a side like Juventus, you need to look to play. In the second part of the first half, we stopped playing but then we went back out and had a go, conceding goals but it was the right attitude. This attitude was rewarded as chances fell for us, the guys did well to go and look for them. Those who came on did some important work, I’m thinking of Siligardi, Stulac and Sproacti. Kuckareceived some excessive criticism from his first game and we knew that his physical condition was a bit risky but he got some playing time and he’s an important player, he showed it against Spal and tonight and his condition will only improve. “When you go behind by two, you start to think about keeping the score down but our attitude after the break made me hopeful. It allowed the boys to get a draw in a difficult match, this team has quality when it looks to be pro-active. Before the game, we spoke about how we still had a long way to go even if the match tonight offered the opportunity to bring home a historic result for our Club. It wasn’t easy, Genoa were the only other side to get a point here this season. The coach was in front of the cameras this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Juventus. Here’s what Roberto D’Aversa had to say;
“Psychologically, we suffered a setback during our last match. What we need to do is make sure that what happened against Spal doesn’t happen in the final 15 minutes again. We can’t go back in time, but we can learn lessons from it. The lads have worked professionally and with intensity, something which hasn’t been easy given that the transfer market can have a destabilising effect. Nevertheless, we’ve trained well, so I’d like to thank the boys and my staff. We always try to improve and have analysed the goals. We regret not having got what would have been an important result in terms of this season’s objective. There’s still work to be done: it’s key that we don’t allow ourselves to think that we’ve already achieved what we set out to do at the start. “We’ll be playing one of the strongest sides in Europe. They had difficulties last time out not only because of injuries to players such as Chiellini, but also due to the way Atalanta went about things. We shouldn’t come into the match thinking that they’re experiencing problems – it must be clear to us that we’re facing a fantastic side. We need try to cause them problems and play the perfect match. In the first half the season, my team were one of the sides who caused them problems. We know how strong they are. They can sometimes give the impression that they’re struggling, only to then step it up. We’ll have to play with intensity, be compact and start with conviction in order to try and get a result, even at such a difficult venue. “Stulac will be back, both Rigoni and Sierralta will be missing as they look to get back to full fitness. Diakhatè will join up with the Primavera side to get some minutes under his belt. Their absences? A club like Juventus won’t run into problems due to absences given that they are equipped to play in multiple competitions. Chiellini and Bonucci have great qualities. Juventus are accustomed to winning and getting back on track after they’ve had a setback. We can’t allow ourselves to think it’ll be easier because they’ve got players missing. “What happens in games has a big effect on the outcome. Atalanta profited from mistakes from individuals to take the lead, and it’s then difficult to come from behind. Juventus have excellent technical ability and it’ll be extremely difficult for us – we’re well aware of that. We need to do well when it comes to exploiting gaps. Our defeat to them in the first half of the season helped us a lot: we can compete against anyone by thinking as a team. Bruno Alves? I’ve read some inaccurate things. It would have been a great opportunity for him, and this is something that demonstrates that nothing is impossible. He strongly believes in hard work. As the Coach of Parma I’m happy because he’s an important part of this squad. “Am I happy with our dealings in the transfer market? A discussion did take place with the Sporting Director and the Club, but what I want to work on is what happens on the pitch because we’ve still got a long way to go to secure survival. We need to go to Turin and enjoy ourselves, not forgetting where we were three years ago or even last year. We have to continue what we’re doing: we might have an off day, but we need to remember for what purpose and how this squad was put together. We can be proud of what we’ve done and what we’re going to do. Would I take a point? If we play for the draw and wait for the 90 minutes to go by, we won’t get any kind of result. Our approach will be to try to go there and get the best result possible. “Who would I take from Juve? When we analyse teams, we do it comprehensively. I don’t have to tell my players how strong and complete a player like Cristiano Ronaldo is. Instead, we analyse everything. They’ll start aggressively and will have the chance to get back on track at home. A single defeat doesn’t erase the strength of this team.” |
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