Parma v Atalanta: the brainteaser

With the International commitments now over, it's time to plunge back into the Serie A for the first of a large series of commitments, which will cram the Nerazzurri's already schedule, fully-booked until the first quarter of 2025. Going in order, on Saturday night, Atalanta will make their stop at the Tardini stadium for thjeir 20:45 CET MD13 game against Parma. Comme d'habitude, here's our brain-teaser...

How many Serie A games does our unbeaten streak in Parma comprise?

Saturday night's game will be our 22nd outing played at the Tardini stadium in the Italian top flight. If, on the one hand, the ledger reads the hosts leading in the overall standings for both wins (9 against 5, with 7 draws to close the picture) and total goals scored (31 against 26), the Nerazzurri are nonetheless on an unbeaten streak. But what about the make-up?

Considering that Parma last won on MD5 of the 2013/14 campaign (namely, a 4-3 win with Bonaventura, Denis and Livaja on target for the Nerazzurri) the last 4 matches saw the outcome smile on the the Orobic side. Going in order, our unbeaten run first began with a goalless draw on MD26 of the following season before building up with three consecutive wins: namely, the two 1-3 (Serie A 2018/19 MD29) and 1-2 (Serie A 2019/20 Week 37) comebacks and the 2-5 goleada in the 2020/21 Serie A MD35.

Who scored his first Nerazzurro goal in our 2-3 win in the 2007/08 season?

Serie A, 2007/08 season. As part of MD21, Di Carlo's Parma (17th in the standings at the time) welcomed Del Neri's 7th-placed Nerazzurri for a game littered with twists and turns.

After a speculative first fraction and a handful of chances each, the match livened up on 17 minutes, as Atalanta broke the deadlock following a set-piece situation from the offensive third taken by Guarente: towering above opponents and teammates alike, Maximiliano Pellegrino nodded the left-footed cross in and vanquished Bucci for the visiting lead. On 31 minutes, as Parma were awarded a penalty for Pellegrino's shirt-tug on Lucarelli, the former Nerazzurro wrongfooted Coppola to convert the spot-kick without a hitch. All over again, though due to a "false start" after the green-light whistle. Back from the spot, the Gialloblù number nine failed to put his name back on the scoresheet, as he saw his effort smothered by the Atalanta goalie at the second attempt. Lucarelli eventually saw his efforts rewarded with a 39-minute header on Cigarini's cross. Despite the countless chances created, especially within a rather boisterous injury time, the stalemate persisted at halftime.

In the second half, Atalanta took the lead on 54 minutes through Bellini: after Doni saw his free-kick attempt walled by the opposition, the Roman striker laid it off to Atalanta's number 6, who cleaved the ball under the roof of the net with a powerful right-footer. The visitors made it three on 61 minutes through a jaw-dropping solo from Floccari who, upon slaloming between the opposing defence, cut inside and unleashed a pinpoint right-footed daisycutter to send the ball in the back of the net after a soft brush with the post. After a levelled unravelling, the tempo stepped up once again in the closing minutes, when Parma's forcing proved itself conducive to the last big fight of the game: namely, the penalty awarded for Ferreira's foul on Gasbarroni, eventually converted by the latter to half the deficit…

Circling back to the main question, who is our “mysterious scorer”? Considering that Bellini scored his first seasonal goal but not his first overall (likewise could be said about Lucarelli's) while Floccari's feat meant the third seasonal Serie A net for our then number 33, there's only one name left to pick... The Argentinian centreback Pellegrino!

Parma 2-5 Atalanta, when did Miranchuk score?

How about we seize the moment for a good old "blast from the past" moment, also as a way to brush up on the match ahead, with a question on our latest outing in Emilia?

As hinted in the opening, on May 9 2021, the Tardini stadium set the scenery for MD35. 12 minutes on the stopwatch and it fell to Malinovskyi to open the scoring by defeating Sepe with a left-footed daisycutter towards the far away post on an Ilicic trademark pass. Twice did the Slovenian roll the ball in the box for Gosens in a matter of minutes and twice did the German miss the date with the goal as he saw his efforts once fly off target and then parried by Sepe. Back on top of the game, Iličić freed Freuler with a back-heel pass and the Swiss crossed the ball in the box for Zapata, with the Colombian smashing the crossbar.

In the second half, it fell to substitutes Pessina and Muriel to put the game temporarily on ice: while the attacking midfielder doubled for Atalanta on 52 minutes by converting Muriel's pass with a left-footer to the far post, the Colombian made it 3-0 in the 77th assisted by Pašalić. Despite the Ducali's attempt at a comeback with Brunetta 60 seconds later, Lucho restored our 3-goal lead in the 86th as he prodded in goal the rebound on Pessina's shot. With Parma pulling one back once again through Sohm, Miranchuk delivered the final blow well into injury time with a winning paw after Sepe's double save on Pašalić. How about the stopwatch? 93rd minute.