A heavily-depleted Parma side managed to hold on for a point against European hopefuls Torino at the Stadio Ennio Tardini on Saturday afternoon.
It was very much be a case of what could have been for Toro, who missed a huge chance to take advantage of those challending them for Europa League football all dropping points in the last week.
Captain Bruno Alves joined Gervinho and Roberto Inglese on the list of Parma’s absences, but they somehow escaped without punishment dsepite their visitors dominating.
Andrea Belotti had the game’s first half-chance, in the most generously loose sense of the word, mistiming an attempted glancing header.
It took 20 minutes for any sort of space to open, and Toro looked to exploit it. Daniele Baselli’s accuracy in the warmup had been pinpoint but he slightly rushed an effort as the ball fell kindly for him on the edge of the area and his shot went behind.
Belotti then took another turn. Like Baselli, he struck from outside the box but his effort was deflected wide. Torino worked the resulting corner well, with Il Gallo peeling away to find a yard on the penalty area where he met a low ball in but his strike wasn’t clean and Luigi Sepe was able to gather.
Parma enjoyed a rare venture out of their own half soon after. Marcello Gazzola got down the right and whipped in a cross to Mattia Sprocati whose header was blocked. The ball fell kindly for Luca Rigoni, but he dragged his effort wide when he met it though he really should have tested Salvatore Sirigu.
Alejandro Berenguer was the next to try for the Granata. Cristian Ansaldi showed some tidy footwork moving down the wing and the Spaniard’s effort was tame.
Baselli almost got the second half started in the best possible way in front of the travelling fans, but his curling effort couldn’t quite find its way into the top corner.
Federico Dimarco had his own effort after a Parma counterattack at the other end. Antonino Barilla broke but was too slow and was caught up with. The ball dropped for Juraj Kucka who slipped Dimarco through on the left and he looked to drive an effort low across goal but Sirigu did well to save it.
Somehow, Riccardo Gagliolo produced an airshot from under the crossbar to pass up the game’s best chance. A corner was knocked down by Francico Sierralta and Gagliolo, about three yards out, panicked and swung wildly at the ball, failing to make any meaningful contact on it much to the dismay of his teammates.
Berenguer should have scored himself moments later. Belotti held the ball up excellently and teed up the No.21, but he fired off target.
Simone Zaza came on to liven things up and he certainly did, but most of what he brought was aggression and a looseness with his arms that injected a feisty spark into the game. He was yellow-carded for an uncontrolled arm that hit Gagliolo, and he had another sneaky swing at him just a few minutes later that escaped punishment.
Vittorio Paragini’s fresh legs allowed the visitors a golden chance in the last ten minutes as he rushed forward on a three-on-one counterattack with Zaza and Berenguer by his side. But greed got the better of him and he shot from an unlikely position when his supporting cast were centrally placed for a tap-in into an open goal.
Threadbare Parma
A week before the Serie A season got underway, Parma looked destined to be scrapping against relegation upon their return to the top flight. A flurry of late signings helped them to a strong start though and since mid-September there’s been no doubting that they’d be sticking around for 2019/20.
But with Roberto Inglese, Gervinho and Bruno Alves sidelined it was clear to see that this Parma side would indeeed be struggling without those late additions, and the Crociati looked like a side whose level was between Serie B and Serie A on Saturday.
The Crociati were slow and ponderous in possession, showing no cutting edge or, Kucka aside, any real willingness to move with anything resembling urgency.
Toro missing a creative spark
Despite their dominance, Torino weren’t able to breach the Parma defence, even without Bruno Alves and Alessandro Bastoni protecting Sepe.
Belotti plugged away but when he dropped deep the Granata had no point of reference for their attacks and Berenguer was slightly wasteful when he had his chances.
Walter Mazzarri has been rightly praised for his work in Turin this season but his side are seriously lacking someone who can unpick an opposing team and it was telling at the Tardini. With those around them dropping points lately, this was a big chance missed by Toro in their quest for European football.
