Last year’s Serie B champion, Parma had a mixed return to the elite. Thwarted by Fiorentina in the opening match (1-1), the Gialloblù then managed the feat of overturning AC Milan (2-1) before losing to Antonio Conte’s Napoli (1-2). So the club, two-time winners of the UEFA Cup, were keen to win the match that pitted them against Udinese tonight, to get back into the Championship. Unfortunately, Parma came up against an opponent that was far too combative. It was first the Parmigianis who made headlines. Well into their match, Fabio Pecchia’s men only needed 2 minutes to open the scoring, thanks to a great strike from Enrico Del Prato (2nd, 1-0). Florian Thauvin quickly tried a low shot at first intention towards the center of the goal (6th), but Leandro Chichizola was attentive and stopped the ball. The initiative remained with Udinesi for a large part of the period. But against the direction of play, Ange-Yoan Bonny managed to make the break for Parma at the end of the first half (43rd, 2-0).
The score, however, did not stay in Parma’s favor for long. As soon as the players returned from the locker room, Lorenzo Lucca sounded the revolt with a headed goal (50th, 2-1). Then the White and Blacks would roll out, notably thanks to the man with legs at the start of the season: Florian Thauvin. The 2018 world champion would first push a superb ball from Keinan Davis (68th, 2-2) into the goal, then stick a shot in the right corner of the cage (79th, 2-3). Another very good performance from the Frenchman, who has already scored 2 goals and provided 3 assists this season. With this great operation, Udinese took the lead in the Serie A standings with 10 points. Their opponent this evening would have to settle for 12th place.
