Parmavs.Fiorentina

While the Gialloblu topped Italy's second tier last season, their Tuscan counterparts again missed out on silverware by the narrowest of margins, before bidding goodbye to their coach.

Match preview

Crowned Serie B champions by finishing three points clear of Como, at the third time of asking Parma booked their return to Calcio's elite level, securing their first top-flight season since 2021.

The Emilian club enjoyed great success in the 1990s but then had to climb up the leagues following financial implosion, and after enduring another spell outside of Serie A, former Cremonese coach Fabio Pecchia has led them back to the promised land.

His side posted 76 points last season, not only averaging two per game but also equalling a club record for a single Serie B season - and one that was set when teams played four matches more.

That was in stark contrast to how Parma went out with a whimper three years ago, when they lost each of their last nine top-flight fixtures and won just one of the last 29.

The Gialloblu have already been back in competitive action this season, with a Coppa Italia first-round tie versus Palermo, but Sunday's 1-0 defeat saw them suffer an early cup exit.

Now turning their attention back to the league, Parma's long-awaited comeback begins against opponents they lost to only once in nine home games before dropping out of Serie A.

Fiorentina's most recent visit to Stadio Tardini produced a 3-3 draw in March 2021, but much has changed since then for the Viola, who came within a whisker of European glory in both of the past two seasons.

Having lost successive Europa Conference League finals - and the 2023 Coppa Italia decider - under former boss Vincenzo Italiano, Fiorentina are under new management for 2024-25.

Ex-Monza coach Raffaele Palladino is now in charge, aiming to move his new club on from the heartbreak of losing to Olympiacos in May, 12 months after they were beaten by West Ham United.

An eighth-placed finish in Serie A ultimately ended Italiano's three-year reign on a down note, but Palladino will now get a crack at the Conference League, less than two years after being promoted from Monza's primavera.

Preparations for the upcoming campaign saw Fiorentina struggle on a brief tour of England, before returning home to post friendly wins over Montpellier and Grosseto - the latter of whom they smashed seven goals past last Monday.

Ahead of next week's Conference League playoff, the Tuscan side will pit their wits against Parma, another one of Serie A's 'Seven Sisters' during Calcio's halcyon days of the mid-1990s.

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Fiorentina form (all competitions):

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Team News

Parma have a handful of fitness concerns ahead of Saturday's game, as Brazilian playmaker Hernani is set to be sidelined by a calf problem, while French forward Yoan Bonny is struggling with a similar issue.

Gabriel Charpentier will miss out with a flexor strain too, but new recruits Emanuele Valeri and Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki could both start.

Though Bonny's presence is in some doubt, Romanian winger Dennis Man is available, having completed the most dribbles in Serie B last term (76) and registered 17 goal involvements.

Captain Enrico Del Prato will serve a suspension for the hosts, while defensive duo Luca Ranieri and Yerry Mina must observe bans for Fiorentina.

Having followed Raffaele Palladino from Monza, Andrea Colpani - who scored eight goals in Serie A last season, but all in home games - joins ex-Juventus striker Moise Kean and Croatia defender Marin Pongracic in hoping to make his competitive debut for the Viola this weekend; high-profile signing David de Gea could be named on the bench.

Pongracic arrived as a replacement for Nottingham Forest-bound Nikola Milenkovic, while Andrea Belotti, Giacomo Bonaventura, Gaetano Castrovilli, Alfred Duncan and Arthur are among a plethora of players to have left Florence this summer.

Nico Gonzalez was the club's top scorer with 12 goals in 2023-24, but having been heavily linked with a move away - to Juventus or Atalanta BC - the Argentina international may not start at Stadio Tardini.

Parma possible starting lineup:

Suzuki; Coulibaly, Osorio, Balogh, Valeri; Sohm, Estevez; Man, Bernabe, Mihaila; Bonny

Fiorentina possible starting lineup:

Terracciano; Martinez Quarta, Pongracic, Biraghi; Dodo, Amrabat, Mandragora, Parisi; Sottil, Colpani; Kean

We say: Parma 1-1 Fiorentina

Only once in their history have Fiorentina and Parma faced each other on Serie A's opening matchday, and 24 years after the previous meeting they will begin a brand new season with a draw.

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