While the current Parma side is preparing for football in Serie B, Sunday May 16 will make 20 years since they won their first UEFA Cup.
The Ducali reached their third consecutive European cup final after they had defeated Belgian club Royal Antwerp 3-1 in the 1993 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final, and lost 1-0 to Arsenal in the following year.
Facing Nevio Scala’s Parma in the 1995 UEFA Cup Final were Marcello Lippi’s Juventus, who had been the Ducali’s greatest rivals throughout the domestic campaign.
The first leg was played on May 3 at the Stadio Ennio Tardini in Parma. Both teams started the game at a fast tempo but the defences were well-organised and applied pressure over the pitch.
Dino Baggio, who was facing his former club, broke the deadlock after just five minutes when he ran onto Gianfranco Zola’s curling pass and scooped the ball past an advancing Michelangelo Rampulla.
Zola had a chance to make it 2-0 for Parma but put his header over the bar. Juventus tried to get back into the game but Parma’s defending was superb, with Fernando Couto stopping nearly anything in his path.
Faustino Asprilla could have extended the Ducali’s lead early in the second half but Rampulla saved his header on the line.
Parma were pegged back more as Juve kept attacking; goalkeeper Luca Bucci made fantastic saves from volleys by Giancarlo Marocchi and Gianluca Vialli. Alessandro Del Piero came on and turned Lorenzo Minotti inside-out, spinning and then dragging the ball back only to see his shot flash across goal.
Dino Baggio’s solitary goal proved sufficient for Parma to take a 1-0 lead into the second leg, but credit had to be given to the Crociati’s central defence of Minotti, Couto and Luigi Apolloni, who kept Juve’s attack at bay.
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The second leg was played at the Stadio Meazza in Milan instead of the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin on May 17.
This was the second time that Juventus had played in Milan that season, after they had previously done so in the semi-final first leg against Borussia Dortmund.
Juventus did nearly all the attacking in the first half.
Fabrizio Ravanelli headed an Angelo Di Livio cross over the bar, Vialli had a shot blocked by Bucci, then his rebounding shot was cleared off the line by Alberto Di Chiara, and Ravanelli’s angled left-foot drive was also saved by Bucci.
The Bianconeri went ahead after 33 minutes when Moreno Torricelli’s long-ball from defence took a bounce and Vialli struck a powerful volley past Bucci. This forced Parma to attack and Massimo Crippa’s angled header forced Angelo Peruzzi to make a diving save.
Torricelli was one-on-one with Bucci early in the second half but the Parma goalkeeper blocked the Juventus defender’s shot.
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Dino Baggio struck the killer blow after 54 minutes when Mussi crossed from the right-wing and he ran towards the far post to score with a diving header.
Torricelli thought he had put Juventus level on aggregate with a long-range strike, but the linesman adjudged the offside Vialli to have touched the ball.
The Bianconeri kept attacking but the Crociati were resolute in defence and they did enough to draw 1-1 in the second leg and win the final 2-1 on aggregate.
Juventus went on to complete a domestic league and cup double over Parma but the Ducali grabbed European glory.
Flash forward to today, and sadly Parma have been declared bankrupt; the search for new investors continues but 20 years ago, the Ducali were a team capable of beating some of Europe’s finest.
