Parma used three years in Serie B to lay the foundations for a new course.
This time, it wasn’t one triumphal march like the one d6 years ago. There it was as if Parma were riding back home, fast as the wind, carried by the notes of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, the same ones that accompany the players every time they enter the pitch at the Tardini.
This time it seemed more like an escape from captivity, like that of the Jews from Babylon in Nabucco. It was an escape from three years of imprisonment, longer than even the most pessimistic Parma native could have imagined. It was an escape on golden wings, as Va’ Pensiero says and as the small appendix of parmisanity that accompanies the slogan americaneggiante chosen by the company to celebrate the promotion.
Support Sportellate: associates Our work is based on the commitment and passion of a young editorial team. Through the association you help us grow and always improve the quality of the content. Join now!
The latest promotion of the gialloblù it had only been the conclusion of a parenthesis, painful, yes, but which in the end had turned into an opportunity, that of accomplishing a feat never seen before: three consecutive promotions from Serie D to Serie A. The transition from the cadet series to the top series was a formality, the normal and natural closure of a journey that, ultimately, everyone remembers with a bit of nostalgia. There had been that romantic restart from the amateurs with the money of the Parma entrepreneurs and with Nevio Scala, hero of the great Parma of the 90s, at the helm. There had been the very long run-up in Serie C, resolved by taconazo of Calaiò, who on the Franchi back line freed himself to cross the ball, soft but inexorable, over the head of Manuel Nocciolini, who scored a decisive goal in the playoff final against Alessandria.
There was the interminable night in La Spezia, in which a romantic mistake by Giardino from the spot for the La Spezia team and, a few minutes later, Mazzeo’s lob in Frosinone, had made an unexpected second place a reality. Then there were the tears of captain Alessando Lucarelli – who descended into hell with his Parma with the aim of bringing it back to where it always deserved to be – at the completion of the feat and there was an impromptu party in the square late at night , with Ciciretti in version conquistador on the statue of Garibaldi who cheered on the already excited yellow and blue fans.
Ciciretti and Garibaldi, strange couple.
This time it was an equally long, but much more tortuous journey. THEon May 4th three years ago, Parma woke up sore and full of shame. On the walls of the Collecchio sports center, the fans had left a banner that needed no further explanation: “Parma disgusts you”. Parma would end that season in last place, behind Crotone and Benevento, with 20 points, just one more than in 2015, the year of failure. The summer promised to be particularly eventful, yet, deep down, the return to Serie A should have been a formality.
The new owner family Krausein Italy only for a few months, had decided to focus on a young group, confirming the January signings who had disappointed at their first impact with Italian football, as Man, Mihaila, Sohm e Balogh and inserting others, promising ones, like Bernabeu, Benedyczak, Delprato, Coulibaly and Bonny. The youth had also been brought to the bench, with the hiring of Guardiola’s pupil, Enzo Maresca (and, given the latest results with Leicester, it wasn’t such a bad idea). However, to keep the place calm and allow the young people to grow without excessive pressure, it was necessary to also hire some veterans.
After Buffon – initially welcomed as a traitor for his move to Juventus about twenty years earlier – Schiattarella had arrived from Benevento and Danilo from Bologna. But the great coup of the summer had been Franco Vazquezfor everyone The mute, which had absolutely nothing to do with that level of Italian football. In short, when Krause preached calm and declared that they would be needed three years to return to Serie A, he looked like a madman. The team was clearly built to win immediately. At least, that’s how it was for everyone. Instead, an ongoing change had been necessary – the interim arrival of Iachini – to achieve nothing more than a not too tormented salvation.
The following season, the key word was “consolidation”: consolidate a young but strong group, which was able to compete even with the battleships coming down from Serie A. In fact, that was how it had been, but with an epilogue different from what everyone dreamed of. After a growing season, Parma Pecchia they had entered the playoffs at the moment of their best form in their championship. There semi-final with Cagliari started off great, with a dominated first half and ended with a two-goal lead at the Sardegna Arena.
Then, details and inexperience made the difference between returning to Serie A and staying in Serie BKT. A Bernabé lost the ball naively he had forced Estévez to get a yellow card to interrupt the home team’s counterattack and Pecchia to remove the latter to avoid taking excessive risks. Then, the collapse. Without their indispensable balancer in midfield, Parma was unable to resist Cagliari’s reaction like a great team. Result: 3-2 with three individual errors by Mihaila, Cobbaut and Juric. On the return leg, Tardini’s scream for Bonny’s goal was choked in his throat by VAR. Result: 0-0, Cagliari in the final.
Parma even threw away a double advantage in Cagliari.
In June the two veterans Vazquez and Buffon had left, but he was back Hernani together with a series of expert players in the category. All the young people who had arrived three years earlier were and still are there. Without Buffon, Delprato became captain and man of heavy goals. Without Vazquez, Bernabé has acquired responsibility and awarenessfinally becoming the technical leader everyone was waiting for, while Man has established himself as the best winger in the championshipshowing off, without the usual long and inexplicable pauses, all his class. Bonnyfrom an immature and undisciplined attacker, has transformed into a complete center forward and useful at all stages. Mikhail e Benedyczak they became more decisive. Sohm, Baloghe Coulibaly they are now excellent and reliable co-owners. He joined them Alessandro Circatiborn and raised at home, true symbol of the rebirth of his cityhe who, despite his Australian nationality, is a true Parma native, from Fontanellato, 20 minutes from Parma.
In August Parma presented itself as the number one candidate for promotion. And indeed that was the case. From the first to the last day there was never any story and a placement among the top two never seemed in question. A new enthusiasm has also been created around the team. At the stadium, also thanks to the lower prices, there were several new faces. The 110th anniversary of its foundation also arrived in December, with a series of marketing initiatives that brought the fans closer and closer to the team. In short, on and off the field, the perfect context for winning was created.
So, one rainy May morning, Parma woke up again in Serie A, but he had to wait a little longer to celebrate. She had to wait for the weather to clear up, to allow her to enjoy this promotion to the fullest, both because she suffered the most and because, in the minds of the people of Parma, there won’t be others for a while. So, after a few days even the sky was convinced to celebrate. It’s blue againwithout interruptions, while lhe tower of the Palazzo del Comune seemed yellower than ever. And even more yellow-blue was the square, packed with people, with yellow-blue smoke bombs, yellow-blue shirts, yellow-blue flags. On Sunday there was a new air in the square, there was a desire for a new Serie A, there was an enthusiasm that, for a promotion, had never been seen in Parma. He also said it, strictly in Parmesan dialect Frambothe ultra leader who was invited to go on stage at the end of the party: “Believe me, I’ve seen promotions, but the square has never been so full”.
Piazza Garibaldi painted yellow and blue.
This time, it wasn’t a revolution, like in ’90in that eternal play-off derby – a watershed in the history of Parma and Reggiana – decided by the goals of the “mayor” Marco Osio and Sandro Melli, in front of a delirious Tardini. It wasn’t even a painful formality, like in 2009, when Guidolin’s yellow-blues, driven by the 24 goals of the unusual duo Cristiano Lucarelli – Alberto Paloschi, finished an exhausting chase in second place. Nor was it the epilogue of a triumphal march, as in 2018.
Yet, this time too, it was for Parma a unique journey: unique because it is longer, more difficult, more frustrating than the others, but also unique because, for the first timethis promotion also comes together with the victory of the BKT Series championship, one of the few trophies that was still missing from the showcase of the Alberto Ceresini Museum – named after the president of the first promotion. Yes again, like that word on which the club has focused the entire marketing campaign linked to this promotion.
And if anchor – with the accent on the O – indicates the persistence of a lasting action, the repetition of something, failing again, trying one more time, this promotion for Parma is also unique for another reason. He hasn’t just done it again. This time, for the first time, Parma has undertaken a journey, it has taken advantage of its stay in Serie BKT to lay foundations, which are lasting, for the future. For the first time he threw aagain – with the strong, marked accent on the A (and where else?) – which this time will allow him to return once again to where he deserves to be. And to stay there for a long time.
2024-05-09 13:00:00
#Parma #triumphal #march #sound #Serie
