Serie A Parma 2-1 Monza: Bocchetti devastating defeat on debut | OneFootball

Despite being down to 10 men, Monza fought back from a soft penalty and were only beaten at the 98th minute by Parma on Salvatore Bocchetti’s debut.

The Ducali were in crisis after three consecutive defeats, with Enrico Delprato, Nahuel Estevez, Adrian Bernabé, Mateusz Kowalski, Alessandro Circati and Gabriel Charpentier injured. Monza sacked coach Alessandro Nesta and made their debut under new boss Bocchetti, but missed Dany Mota Carvalho, Luca Caldirola, Georgios Kyriakopoulos, Samuele Vignato, Alessio Cragno, Roberto Gagliardini and Matteo Pessina.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Monza started with extraordinary aggression, as after 52 seconds Daniel Maldini had more time and space than he realised, volleying wide from the Samuele Birindelli cross.

It was total chaos moments later, when Maldini thumped the crossbar, his back-heel follow-up was cleared off the line and eventually Patrick Ciurria hit a ferocious strike into the roof of the net. However, it was disallowed following the VAR review, as Gianluca Caprari had failed to keep the ball in play on the pull-back.

Maldini had the ball in the net again on nine minutes, but Caprari was clearly offside before the roll across for his tap-in.

PARMA, ITALY – DECEMBER 28: Salvatore Bocchetti head coach of Monza during the Serie A match between Parma and Monza at Stadio Ennio Tardini on December 28, 2024 in Parma, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Caprari did manage to spring the offside trap on a ball over the top, seeing Zion Suzuki get down to fingertip the angled drive round the far post.

There was a great deal of controversy as the game changed on 54 minutes. Pablo Mari went into the tackle on Woyo Coulibaly just inside the penalty area and he seemed to get the ball first, but then continued to catch the ankle. Following a very long VAR review, the referee opted for a spot-kick plus a second yellow card for Pablo Mari, so Monza were reduced to 10 men and Hernani kept his cool to convert.

Milan Djuric came off the bench to make his Monza comeback after injury and found the net within 120 seconds, but this too was ruled offside.

Parma received another very soft penalty when the referee pointed to the spot for Camara going down under the slightest contact of a Birindelli arm across his chest. This time, VAR intervened somewhat against the general protocol to suggest an On-Field Review – a rare event when there is some contact – and the referee agreed that Camara had made a meal of it.

Despite being down to 10 men, Monza snatched a late equaliser when Kevin Martins – the son of former Inter striker Obafemi Martins – got down the right and put in a cross for Pedro Pereira at the back post.

Parma kept pouring forward and with everyone up for the last corner eight minutes into stoppages, Lautaro Valenti’s flicked header flew into the far corner to win it for the Ducali.

Parma 2-1 Monza

Hernani pen 56 (P), Pereira 86 (M), Valenti 98 (P)

Sent off: Pablo Mari 54 (M)