STADIO ENNIO TARDINI (Parma) – A first-minute goal from Jasmin Kurtic was enough for Parma to get their first points of the Serie A season as they beat Hellas Verona 1-0 on Sunday afternoon, keeping their first clean sheet in 17 games in the process.
The Crociati had endured a horrid run of form at the Tardini until welcoming the Veronese, losing seven of their previous nine games there, while Verona had lost just once of their last nine matches against Sunday’s hosts.
? First points of the season
? First clean sheet in 17 games
? First win in front of home fans in 253 days@ParmaCalcio_en ended a series of unwanted records this afternoon and @ConJClancy was there for #FIFattheGamesReport ? https://t.co/PwijWYoHo7#ParmaVerona #SerieA pic.twitter.com/XlfhyH4xXD
— ForzaItalianFootball (@SerieAFFC) October 4, 2020
The action had barely got going at the Tardini when Parma had their first lead of the season.
Just 28 seconds had been played by the time Jasmin Kurtic tapped in the opener after being found by Yann Karamoh, whom had been sent clear on the right by a Vincent Laurini ball over the top.
Karamoh looked lively and continued to give Verona something to think about, coming close to adding a second himself, though things weren’t quite clicking between the No.10 and his strike partner Gervinho.
The visitors started to grow into the game after around a quarter of an hour but Parma’s backline stayed, for the most part, firm.
Verona’s clearest chance fell the way of Marco Davide Faraoni who looked to have found the net only for Giuseppe Pezzella to leap and divert his effort over the crossbar with just enough of a headed touch.
A couple of freekicks went the way of the Mastini but not much came of them and then Parma started to have chances of their own again.
Gervinho had a couple of his own half-chances before the break but wasn’t able to make the most of either.
Parma enjoyed a bright start to the second half as well with Kurtic and Hernani going close, forcing Marco Silvestri into action not long after Federico Dimarco had brought a save out of Luigi Sepe at the other end.
Fabio Liverani made some changes in personnel and setup, switching to a back five consisting of substitutes Matteo Darmian, Riccardo Gagliolo and starters Bruno Alves, Kastriot Dermaku and Pezzella, which only appeared to invite further pressure from Ivan Juric’s side.
Verona’s own second-half substitute Eddie Salcedo passed up a huge chance to level with 15 minutes to play. Dimarco put a perfect ball into the area that Sepe couldn’t dare to try and claim but the forward couldn’t meet it.
Fellow substitute Ebrima Colley then showed a spark on the left to put another ball across the six-yard box that was begging to be turned home, though none of the arriving players in yellow were able to tap it in.
Gaston Brugman could have killed the game off in the final ten minutes as he found himself free on the edge of the area at the end of a counterattack sprung by Juraj Kucka.
Gervinho approached the box and found the Uruguayan, but his shot was tame when he might have expected to score.
Brugman was almost made to pay immediately as the visitors had a big chance for themselves, but Sepe did excellently to react fast and deny Lubomir Tupta a goal with his very first touch.
Andrea Favilli was inches away from levelling as the clock ticked beyond the 90-minute mark, but a ball from the left was just too high for him to meet with the goal gaping in front of him.
