Hellas Verona beat Parma 3-1 on Sunday afternoon in Serie A at the Stadio Bentegodi.
Jacopo Sala opened the scoring in the first-half for Verona before Francesco Lodi equalised in the second only for Luca Toni to restore the Mastini’s advantage and Mattia Valoti secured the three points with a third in the 90th minute.
The home side looked threatening in the fourth minute after Davide Brivio won the ball on Parma’s goal line but his cutback was claimed by Antonio Mirante in the away side’s goal before it could reach Luca Toni.
Parma had a sight of goal in the 12th minute but Jose Mauri’s shot from just outside the area was blocked by Guillermo Rodriguez.
Toni had the game’s first big chance in the 14th minute after Javier Saviola slipped the ball through to the striker who beat a man but his shot was too close to beat Mirante.
Parma looked dangerous in the 30th minute after a corner kick led to a brief goalmouth scramble before Verona hit back on the counterattack and Saviola was left alone in the visitors’ area but his shot across goal was saved well by Mirante before his defenders could get back and clear the danger.
Verona opened the scoring in the 39th minute thanks to Sala who fired into the bottom left-hand corner from outside the area after Saviola cleverly slipped the ball to the Italian midfielder with a man closing him down.
Leandro Greco had a golden opportunity to play a through ball to Toni who was in space in the 50th minute but the midfielder instead opted to run at the defence and was tackled.
Parma saw more of the ball at the start of the second half but struggled to break through the Mastini’s defence and there were few opportunities for either side.
The home side looked to have worked their way into a shooting position just after the hour mark thanks to some good work from Brivio down the left but his low ball into the area was just out of Saviola’s reach.
Parma equalised through a great Francesco Lodi free kick from a central position in the 64th minute that curled around the wall and into the bottom left corner.
Toni restored the Hellas lead in the 72nd minute after battling to get in front of his marker and poke it in first-time after substitute Mattia Valoti did well to drive down the left and set up the forward.
The Scaligeri had a shout for a penalty in the 75th minute but the referee was not interested and instead awarded a corner from which emerged a Parma counterattack but Antonio Cassano’s cross was too strong for Raffaele Palladino to get onto the end of.
Parma came extremely close to equalising in the 79th but Palladino’s powerful shot from close range was stopped on the line.
Toni had a chance to seal the win in the 81st minute but fired narrowly wide after some great work from substitute Nico Lopez who scattered the Ducali defenders with his dribbling skills.
Mattia Valoti sealed the win in the 90th minute after rounding Mirante and tapping into the open goal.
