Atalanta v Parma: the brainteaser

The final act of an intense and unforgettable season for the Nerazzurri is about to unfold, as they prepare to bring the curtain down by hosting Parma, still chasing crucial points to secure their place among the Italian topflight. The stage is set for Sunday evening, when a festive Gewiss Stadium will pay tribute to its heroes, ready to send them off into a well-earned summer break. Ready for our last dance with the Crociati?

2007/08 season, Atalanta 2-0 Parma, who doubled our lead?

Home season debut at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia for Delneri’s men, who, after drawing in their opener against Reggina, are now chasing their first three points in front of their own fans.

The Nerazzurri try to make their home advantage count from the get-go, coming close to an early lead with Costinha in the 4th minute. In the 16th minute, the visitors make their first foray into Atalanta’s box, but a Parma shot is deflected for a corner by Ferreira Pinto. The scare lasts only three minutes: Langella makes a solo run down the left wing, cuts into the box, and is brought down by Coly. Zampagna steps up to the spot and calmly sends Bucci the wrong way to break the deadlock.

Parma nearly draw level in the 24th minute through Pisanu, but Coppola pulls off a stunning save to deny the Gialloblù forward.

With the first half quietly fading out, Floccari opens the second with a right-footed shot over the bar just two minutes after the restart. Despite the early chance for Atalanta, it’s Parma who control the early stages of the second half: Reginaldo fires over from close range in the 55th minute, and then Coly threatens again in the 62nd after a through ball from Morfeo.

But fate swings back in Atalanta’s favor. Langella switches play to Inzaghi, who makes a long cross-field pass to find Ferreira Pinto’s run — cross into the middle and… it's deflected for a corner! Stepping up to take it is none other than the current Inter manager (then still a player), who delivers a perfect ball into the box. Moris Carrozzieri rises highest and heads it home past Bucci in the 65th minute, doubling Atalanta’s lead.

How many matches does our longest home unbeaten streak against Parma comprise?

On Sunday, Atalanta will host Parma for the 66th all-time meeting between the two teams in all competitions, the 32nd in Bergamo, four seasons after the Ducali’s last appearance at the Gewiss Stadium. That was on January 6, 2021, for the Serie A's Round 16, when the Nerazzurri claimed a convincing 3–0 victory, thanks to goals by Muriel, Zapata, and Gosens. That win marked Atalanta’s fourth consecutive Serie A victory against the Emilians, a streak that to this day stands as the team's record as far as in Serie A home games against Parma are concerned. As a curiosity within a curiosity, on aggregate, the Nerazzurri are unbeaten in their last 9 consecutive meetings (8 wins and 1 draw), just two short of the record of 11 matches achieved between the 1958/59 and 1986/87 seasons.

Staying on the topic of positive streaks, how many matches does our longest unbeaten run consist of, this time limited strictly to home games? Excluding the current active streak of four unbeaten matches, the second-longest in club history is an 8-match unbeaten run (all in the Serie A) recorded between the 2001/02 season and the 2012/13 campaign, made up of 5 home wins and 3 draws.

So what about this week’s magic number? Already drawn earlier, the number 11 makes another appearance in the tally of head-to-heads against Parma, this time specifically “on the Bergamo wheel”. But what exactly is the time frame being referred to? It starts in the 1929/30 Serie B season, which marked not only the first meeting between the two sides in Bergamo, but also, and more importantly, Atalanta’s first home win at the Brumana stadium; namely, a resounding 4–0 victory featuring goals from Perduca, Cornolti (brace), and Casati. The streak extends all the way to the goalless draw in the 1990/91 Serie A season: more than half a century of home unbeaten matches, made up of 8 Atalanta wins and 3 draws, spanning all the main tiers of Italian football, from Serie A to Serie C, including Serie B and the Coppa Italia!

Have we ever played the season finale against Parma?

While there have been two previous occasions when Atalanta kicked off their Serie A campaign by hosting the Gialloblù in Bergamo - specifically in the 1992/93 season, when the Nerazzurri, then coached by Marcello Lippi, claimed a 2–1 win thanks to goals from Ganz and Rimbaudi, and again in the 1995/96 opener, which ended 1–1 after Mondonico’s men equalized with a last-gasp penalty from Vieri - the two sides have never faced each other on the final day of a league season, whether in the top flight or in Serie B.

Focusing on Serie B, the latest in the calendar that Atalanta and Parma have squared off was on matchday 36 of the 1973/74 season, which ended in a 1-1 draw. As for Serie A, Atalanta’s latest home game against Parma never came later than matchday 30. On the road, though, the most “late-season” clash took place in the 2019/20 season, during matchday 37, when Atalanta came from behind to win 2-1 at the Tardini, overturning a goal from former player Kulusevski with strikes from Malinovskyi and Gomez.