Serie B, playoff sprint for Buffon’s Parma: now dream of Serie A

A streak of four consecutive useful games (three wins and a draw) wouldn’t be a feat, were it not that we are talking about Parma, and that is a team that has stood out above all for the inconstancy of performance in this championship. Having put the bar back straight, right in the final period of the season, is the medal that Fabio Pecchia can pin to his chest.

Formations

—

From the beginning of his experience in Emilia he aimed to build a group. Never a training equal to the other, so as to always keep everyone on the ropes. The result of this style of work is in a photograph: the exultation of Man’s decisive goal against Cagliari, with his teammates on the bench and those on the pitch overwhelming the talented Romanian with happiness. If there is this union in Parma, the credit goes to Pecchia.

Buffon, Ansaldi and Vazquez: double role

—

The experience of Buffon, Ansaldi and Vazquez can be decisive in this season finale. Not so much for what they can give on the pitch (although the technical aspect should never be overlooked), but for what they can transmit in terms of safety to their younger teammates. Gigi has never hidden his desire to pursue his dream as long as there is a minimum of hope: to bring Parma back to Serie A. And it is to be believed that in the next month and a half we will see a Buffon in the 2006 World Cup style: not with the same muscular elasticity or with the same reactivity (maybe he still had it, but at 45 you can’t ask for miracles), but with the same desire to amaze and give promotion to the people of the city who launched it. Buffon is important for what he does in goal, but he is even more so for what he says to his teammates in the locker room, before and after training or matches. He knows when it’s time to groom and when, instead, a caress is needed. He knows who needs to be spurred on and who, on the contrary, needs to be consoled. Like him, Vazquez, the team’s true leader and authentic compass on the pitch, and Ansaldi, another point of reference, are also called upon to play the double role of players and psychologists. It will not be easy for them to face this experience, but young people cling to them to be dragged towards glory.

Man, Mihaila and the others: luxury for the category

—

If when you turn around and take a look at the bench you meet the eyes of Dennis Man and Valentin Mihaila and perhaps, a little further away, those of Inglese or Charpentier, you can well say you are a lucky coach. The strength of the Parma bench has been decisive in the last period. Against Palermo, 2-1 victory and decisive goal by Coulibaly who has just entered. In Cittadella the winning goal was scored by Camara, certainly not an immovable owner. Last Saturday Cagliari was knocked down by a spectacular seal from Dennis Man who Pecchia had sent onto the pitch five minutes earlier in place of a defender. A move, the latter, which had convinced the whole team to attack. Having a thick and high-level bench is another aspect that can make the difference in the playoffs.

From the mayor to the fans: now there’s fresh air

—

Parma is a city in love, in this spring that blossoms and after an autumn and winter that are too gray: it was feared that this season too, like the previous one, could not give satisfaction, it was believed that Serie A was a mirage and that even achieving the playoffs, given certain performances, would have been very complicated. Instead, all of a sudden, the scenario has changed, Parma have slipped in a good series of results, are now fifth in the standings and the public, who have never failed to support them even in times of difficulty, have rallied even further. more to Pecchia’s team. If a month ago the criticisms of President Krause were not at all veiled and were shown with a polemical banner spread out in the Curva Nord, now people have put aside their bad moods and are just thinking about how nice it would be if Parma were to achieve promotion. We know that the bandwagon in Italy is always very crowded… The fan clubs are organizing the away match in Benevento. At the last away game, in Modena, the mayor was also present together with a couple of councilors: this to make it clear that the vicissitudes of Parma and the city of Parma are closely linked. And if an agreement is also found to build the new stadium, so much the better, provided that the citizens and all the components are of the same opinion.