PARMA CALCIO 1903 (Stadio Ennio Tardini)

SERIE B, PARMA CALCIO 4-3 COMO 1907, ATTENDANCE: 5,310

Our first game of the day took us to the city of 'ham and cheese' for an afternoon encounter at the Stadio Ennio Tardini. 

Parma is, of course, the world famous home of Parmaesan cheese and Parma ham. Indeed these are protected designations of origin for foods and, under Italian and European law, can only be called so if produced in the provinces of Reggio Emilia . Therefore is was only right and proper that prior to the game we headed to the famous 'La Prosciutteria'  shop in the city to sample the delights!

  "Say cheese"  

There was also time for a few local ales at 'Casa Ducato' before making the 20 walk to the stadium. Parma have certainly have an interesting history to say the least, especially in the recent years.

Originally founded in 1913, the club was declared bankrupt in 2015 and liquidated. The club reformed in Serie D and achieved three successive promotions to return to Serie A before dropping back to Serie B last season.

The financial problems originally went back to the turn of the millennium. After a decade of unprecedented success in which Parma won eight major trophies between 1992 and 2002 - four Coppa Italia, one Supercoppa Italiana, two UEFA cups and one European Cup Winners Cup.

These teams featured legendary players such as Tomas Brolin, Gianfranco Zola, Faustino Asprilla, Dino Baggio, Hernan Crespo and Gianluigi Buffon,  who is still going strong at the age 44 and recently signed a new 1 year contract extension at Parma.

The success in the 1990's was funded by Calisto Tanzi, who was the founder of Parmalat, a multi-national dairy and food company, but he was found guilty of one of largest frauds in European history, leading to the company's collapse. This led to the club going into administration in 2004 before it's eventual demise in 2015.

The Stadio Ennio Tardini has been home to Parma since it's inauguration in 1923, and is named after the former club president. It was he who drew up the plans for the stadium but died before completion. The ground was reconstructed in the 1990's, when the club was promoted to Serie A, to incorporate the requisite number of seats required for top flight football.

Parma were hosting Como this afternoon and with both teams having nothing to play for expectations of a classic encounter were low. However, with no pressure comes freedom and both teams served up a brilliant game to watch. There were chances galore for either side but in the Parma ran out winners by the odd goal in seven.

The teams entered the field to the strains of the Triumphal March from Aida, by the Parma born Giuseppe Verdi, indeed when Parma formed they were originally named Verdi FC in honour of the famous composer.

Franco Vázquez (31) gave Parma a half time lead before substitute Ettore Gliozzi equalised on the hour mark. Gliozzi's second of the match (67) gave Como the lead before two stunning free kicks from Adrián Bernabé (77 & 81) put the home side 3-2 up. A fourth goal from Gennaro Tutino (85) effectively sealed the victory but a late penalty from Gliozzi, to complete his hat-trick, did set up a grandstand finish but Parma held out.

Match highlights can be found by clicking here