Palermo and Parma cancel each other out, 0-0 at the “Barbera”. 6 points to A

A decent Parma battles Palermo for 90 minutes, but has to settle for one point: for the ducals, “Barbera” remains an impregnable fortress (5 draws and 10 defeats in the 15 previous matches in Serie B).

The match between two of the most qualitative and historic teams in the cadet championship ends with a 0-0 which doesn’t make anyone happy but doesn’t displease anyone either. One big meal for Parma, who add a point to their rich haul and see the much-desired Series only 6 points away. This is also valid for Palermo who are in the hunt for a place in the play-offs: Mr. Mignani can say he is satisfied with how his team worked to limit the league leaders Parma. The great harmony between Osorio and Circati is still confirmed, unbeaten in the 12 matches in which they were deployed alongside and protagonists of an excellent performance to defend the Chichizola’s third consecutive clean sheet (the second with the two on the pitch from the first minute).

THE CHOICES Prediction of the day before met almost completely, with Pecchia not distorting the formation of the last few weeks but limiting himself to a few tweaks: the talismanic pair Osorio-Circati at the center of the defense, flanked on the right by captain Delprato while on the left Di Chiara wins the run-off with Zagaritis and takes the starting shirt. Estevez returns from the first minute, alongside Cyprien in midfield, as does Bernabé – returning after serving his suspension for a warning against Südtirol – who positions himself in the role of central attacking midfielder. Benedyczak takes the place of the suspended Bonny and together with Man he places himself on either side of the light striker Mihaila. Mignani surprises again, returning to the 3-4-1-2 he glimpsed in his first two outings on the Palermo bench. Lucioni regains his starting place in the center of the defense, with Nedelcearu confirmed in the starting eleven to the left of the captain while Diakité moves wide on the right. Gomes and Henderson guard the midfield with Di Mariano and Lund all over the flanks. Di Franceso settles behind the Brunori-Mancuso tandem.

SO PALERMO, PARMA PUNZECCHIA Palermo made a great start and in the 2nd minute they immediately became dangerous in Chichizola’s area: Brunori worked a dirty ball well on the edge of the area and fed Mancuso, who challenged the Argentine number 1. The linesman raises his flag but the response from the Crociati goalkeeper remains excellent, defusing the Rosanero attacker’s shot with a feline flick. The Eagles start with a good attitude and are not afraid to assert their qualities in the dribbling, taking advantage of the numerical superiority in the central area of the pitch. And in the 19th minute the hosts again create the opportunity to take the lead: the usual Brunori arrives at the back left and puts it in the middle, the ball reaches Di Mariano but the demi-volée of the number 10 ends very high. Pecchia understands the difficulties of his players and begins to distribute instructions to protect his players: Bernabè lowers himself to reinforce the midfield and Parma switches to 4-3-3, with Cyprien pivoting and Estevez tasked with keeping an eye on Di Francesco (often close to the pair of midfielders and then inventing on the left-handed attacking midfielder). Mihaila reverses position with Benedyczak and widens on the left. After the precautions, Parma seems to shield Palermo’s offensive plots well and tries to wait for Mignani’s men in their own half. In the 35th minute, a great opportunity for the home team, with Di Francesco slipping behind Estevez and creating yet another Sicilian attempt on the left. The son of art sends Lund to the back who, left-footed, puts a beautiful tip into the center of the area which Mancuso pounces on. The striker’s shot is weak but angled and Chichizola has to fly to his left to prevent the ball from hitting the post.
The first real opportunity for Parma arrives in the 38th minute, with By Chiara who recovers a very good ball on the edge of the area and kicks powerfully towards goal. Pigliacelli has to stretch out to all 185 centimeters of his body to prevent the ball from going into the far corner after a slight deflection from Diakité. On the ensuing corner Parma tries a complex scheme to send the shot Delprato, who shoots from a tight angle onto the near post. Pigliacelli still has to put the gloves on. At the end of 3 minutes of injury time, the Parma captain again made himself very dangerous, heading home a beautiful cross from Di Chiara. The ball hits Lund’s back and soars, caroming over the crossbar. Last thrill for the “Barbera” of a first half played openly by both teams: great first half hour for Palermo, then a lot for Parma but at half-time the result was 0-0. Worth noting is a serious injury to Eagles number 10 Di Mariano, who comes out on top in a clash with Estevez in the 30th minute and leaves on a stretcher escorted by doctors.

0-0 IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE Immediate change for Pecchia, who replaces Cyprien with Charpentier and returns to the original 4-2-3-1. Bernabè lowers himself alongside Estevez while Mihaila this time moves under the striker, with “Charpe” in charge of providing the reference points missed in the first half. Parma starts again with the same desire that characterized the last 10 minutes of the first half of the game and throws itself headlong into the Rosanero half of the pitch, frightening Pigliacelli with a nice shot from outside the area by Estevez which goes just wide ( 49′). As in the first half, Palermo opposed a dense 5-man line in defence, manned by Henderson and Gomes with the help of Di Francesco and the Crociati struggled to find space for their triangulations. In the 68th minute the yellow-blues have a great opportunity on the right Charpentier: Man invents the winning shot for the French striker’s cut at the near post, the conclusion only finds the outside of the net. In the 71st minute the top scorer of Pecchia’s team goes on his own, coming back on the left foot on the edge of the area and kicking towards goal but the goalkeeper of the satellite team of the City Group is not fooled by the sharp shot of the number 98 and deflects it corner. In the half hour Palermo responds to Parma’s attacks, with Di Francesco catches Buttaro at the far post completely free but the right winger’s shot is poorly calibrated and the shot ends up completely wide. Parma finished with a totally upset formation from the midfield up but none of the substitutes – like the starters – managed to find the way to the net and so between the second and third best attack of the championship the match ended without any goals scored.

PALERMO – PARMA 0-0

PALERMO (3-4-1-2): Pigliacelli; Diakité, Lucioni, Nedelcearu; Di Mariano (33′ pt Buttaro), Henderson (24′ st Segre), Gomes, Lund; Di Francesco; Brunori (45′ st Coulibaly), Mancuso (24′ st Chaka Traoré).
Available: Desplanches, Graves, Stulac, Insigne, Marconi, Soleri, Aurelio, Ceccaroni.
Coach: Mignani.
PARMA (4-2-3-1): Chichizola; Delprato, Osorio, Circati, Di Chiara; Estevez, Cyprien (1′ st Charpentier); Man (38′ st Ansaldi), Bernabé, Benedyczak (34′ st Hernani); Mihaila (24′ st Sohm).
Available: Turk, Corvi, Balogh, Ansaldi, Colak, Hainaut, Partipilo, Camara, Zagaritis.
Coach: Pecchia.
Referee: Mr. Aureliano of Bologna
Assistants: Mr. Di Giacinto di Teramo, Mr. Bahri of Sassari
Note: “Enzo Barbera” stadium in Palermo, spectators 21,120 (of which 12,603 season ticket holders and 242 guests). Booked: at 37′ pt Osorio (Par), at 42′ pt Diakité (Pal), at 33′ st Bernabé (Par), at 49′ st Gomes (Pal) for a foul. Corner: 7-5 (3-3) Recovery: 3′ pt, 4′ st.