Parma vs Genoa: A Battle for First Victory in Serie A
Two of Serie A’s strugglers collide at the Ennio Tardini on Sunday, and it already feels like one of those games that could shape a season. Parma and Genoa, both winless after four league outings, arrive with heavy legs, heavier doubts and the simple, desperate need for a first victory of 2026-27.
Right now, survival starts in September.
Parma searching for a spark
Parma’s season has been stuck in neutral since mid-August. That 2-0 Coppa Italia win over Catania briefly hinted at momentum; it never came. Carlos Cuesta’s side have lost four of their last five in all competitions and have not tasted victory since that cup tie.
The problems have been brutally clear. Parma failed to score in league defeats to Cagliari (1-0) and Juventus (2-0), then crashed out of the Coppa Italia with another 2-0 reverse against Cremonese at the start of September. A team that once prided itself on attacking verve has been playing with the handbrake on.
There are, at least, faint signs of life. A 1-1 draw with Monza on matchday four finally put a point on the board, and Monday’s narrow 2-1 loss to Champions League debutants Como was more competitive than the scoreline suggests. Parma were in the game, not just clinging to it.
Cuesta has to bottle that edge and pour it into Sunday. Parma have not beaten Genoa in three years and are on a four-match winless run against the Ligurians. The Ennio Tardini crowd has waited long enough for something to cheer in the league.
They will have to find new heroes. Last season’s nine-goal forward Mateo Pellegrino now wears Fiorentina colours, leaving a sizeable hole in the final third. So far only Simone Lontani and David Romero have scored for Parma in Serie A this term, a stark illustration of the attacking burden they carry.
Team news offers at least one comfort: stability. Hans Nicolussi Caviglia’s groin problem rules him out this weekend, but he is Cuesta’s only confirmed absentee.
Parma are expected to line up with Corvi in goal behind a back three of Delprato, Troilo and Carlos. Britschgi and Valeri should patrol the flanks, with Bernabe and Keita in central midfield. Toure is likely to support the front pairing of Lontani and Romero, who again shoulder the responsibility of turning half-chances into something more.
Genoa stuck in reverse
On the opposite bench, Daniele De Rossi knows the feeling of a season slipping away before it has truly begun. Genoa arrive in Emilia-Romagna sitting second-bottom, with their only wins of the campaign coming in the Coppa Italia against Ascoli and Sudtirol.
The midweek victory over Sudtirol did at least deliver something precious: a first clean sheet of the season in any competition. For a side leaking goals and short on belief, that matters. Now they have to prove it was not a one-off.
The league numbers tell a harsher story. De Rossi, the World Cup-winning midfielder turned coach, has not celebrated a Serie A victory in nine matches. Since beating now-relegated Pisa 2-1, Genoa have collected six defeats and three draws. That kind of run drags a club down the table and into trouble before winter has even arrived.
The issues are everywhere you look. No team in Serie A has scored fewer than Genoa’s two league goals, a tally matched only by Parma. At the back, the Grifone have conceded eight times, the fifth-worst defensive record in the division behind Venezia, Monza and Fiorentina (11 each) and Udinese (10). Soft at the back, blunt up front: it is a dangerous combination.
Yet the table still offers a sliver of hope. A win on Sunday could catapult Genoa as high as 13th, depending on other results. In a congested early-season standings, one good afternoon can change the mood entirely.
De Rossi will have to make do without one of his key contributors. Johan Vasquez, scorer against Frosinone and the match-winner against Sudtirol in midweek, is suspended after picking up two yellow cards last weekend. His absence strips Genoa of a rare source of goals and drive.
The injury list adds more problems. Elias Havel (ankle) and Lorenzo Venturino (knee) remain sidelined, leaving the coach short of options in certain areas.
Genoa are likely to go again with Bijlow in goal, protected by a back three of Marcandalli, Ostigard and Otoa. Ehizibue and Ellertsson should operate as wing-backs, with Frendrup and Sow battling in central midfield. Baldanzi is expected to float between the lines behind the front two of Osmajic and Colombo.
For Milutin Osmajic, this is an opportunity he cannot ignore. The forward is the only other Genoa player to have scored this season, his solitary goal coming in the 4-1 loss to Como in early September. With Vasquez out, Genoa need him to step out of the shadows and lead.
A cagey stalemate in the making?
Put the numbers side by side and the pattern is hard to ignore. Parma and Genoa have managed just two league goals apiece. Both have leaned heavily on a tiny group of scorers. Both have spent more time defending than dictating.
The last two meetings between these sides ended 0-0. The risk of a repeat is obvious.
Parma will try to feed off the home crowd and the slight upturn in their performances. Genoa will cling to the clean sheet from midweek and the possibility of a leap up the table. Neither side can afford to open up recklessly, not with confidence this fragile.
The pressure may yet produce a moment of chaos, a mistake, a deflection that breaks the deadlock. But on current evidence, this has all the makings of another tight, nervous contest where fear of losing outweighs the hunger to win.
Prediction: Parma 0-0 Genoa.
If that proves accurate, both clubs will leave the Ennio Tardini still winless, still searching, and with the uncomfortable question lingering: how long can you flirt with the bottom before the season defines you?
