Ten-man Parma clung on to beat Atalanta 4-3 at the Stadio Tardini on Wednesday evening in Serie A.
The Gialloblu opened the scoring through Djamel Mesbah, before Giacomo Bonventura levelled a minute later, but a brace from Marco Parolo and another from Aleandro Rosi but Parma in control, before German Denis brought La Dea back into the game just before the break.
Atalanta rallied in the second half as Amauri preceded to get himself sent off and reduced the deficit to one as Marko Livaja bagged a header.
Roberto Donadoni’s men started the game in impressive fashion, immediately putting pressure on their opponents with Marco Parolo and Antonio Cassano in particular looking impressive.
It wasn’t long before Parma took the lead, some poor defending lead to the ball dropping for Mesbah who then curled a shot from the edge of the area into the top corner, leaving Andrea Consigli rooted to the spot.
However, the lead lasted just one minute as Bonaventura got on the end of a knockdown in the penalty area from Denis to slot the ball home.
A pulsating few minutes ensued, before some slack defending from La Dea led to Cassano chipping a pass over the backline into the path of an onrushing Parolo who smashed home from a tight angle on the left.
By this point Parma were on tip and it was three when Rosi slotted into the right-hand corner from the edge of the area.
Five minutes later Cassano was once again involved in the action as his shot from five yards rattled the post but, Parolo lashed the rebound into the top corner.
Then just before half time Bonaventura stole the ball from Walter Gargano before feeding it through to Denis, who rounded Consigli and chipped the ball home.
After the break, Atalanta looked to get themselves back in the game with the introduction of Guido Marilungo and their job was made easier after Amauri was given a straight red card for abusive language towards the referee.
Despite having a man advantage and most of the possession Atalanta struggled to break the home side down and barely tested Antonio Mirante.
But with less than 15 minutes remaining La Dea clawed themselves back into the game as Luca Cigarini floated a cross from the right for Livaja to head past the goalkeeper.
With Atalanta ramping up the pressure Nicola Sansone had the chance to wrap up the game for Parma, but when one-on-one with Consigli, the Italian U21 international fired straight into the goalkeeper.
The final moments of the game descended into a series of arguments between both sets of players as the home side held on for their first win of the new Serie A season.
