Parma and Genoa meet at the Ennio Tardini on Sunday with the same burden on their backs and the same simple, urgent need: win a Serie A game at last.
Five rounds into the 2026-27 campaign, both remain stuck in neutral. No league victories, goals hard to come by, confidence fragile. Two clubs staring at the same mirror, hoping to see something different looking back.
Parma searching for a spark
Parma’s season has never really taken off. It flickered briefly in mid-August with a 2-0 Coppa Italia win over Catania, then faded almost immediately.
Since that night, Carlos Cuesta’s side have lost four of their last five in all competitions and have not tasted victory in over a month. The most worrying stretch came in a barren run in front of goal: a 1-0 defeat at Cagliari, a 2-0 loss to Juventus, and a 2-0 Coppa Italia exit to Cremonese. Three games, no goals, and very little to cling to.
The mood shifted slightly on matchday four. Parma finally got off the mark in the league with a 1-1 draw against Monza, then pushed Champions League debutants Como hard in a narrow 2-1 defeat on Monday night. It was still a loss, but at least it looked like a team that had rediscovered some fight.
They will need every bit of that edge now. Parma have not beaten Genoa in three years and are winless in their last four meetings with the Ligurian club. At home, with the table already taking shape and nerves starting to show, this feels bigger than a routine early-season fixture.
Cuesta’s options are almost fully open. Only Hans Nicolussi Caviglia misses out with a groin problem. The real issue is not who is available, but who can actually decide a game.
Last season’s nine-goal forward Mateo Pellegrino now plays for Fiorentina, stripping Parma of a proven finisher. After four league games, only Simone Lontani and David Romero have found the net. Too much build-up, not enough end product.
Cuesta is expected to stick with Corvi in goal, Delprato, Troilo and Carlos across the back, with Britschgi, Bernabe, Keita and Valeri providing the legs and passing in midfield. Toure should support Lontani and Romero in attack. On paper, it is a balanced XI. On the pitch, it needs to start looking dangerous.
De Rossi under early strain
On the opposite bench, Daniele De Rossi walks into the Tardini with his own questions to answer.
The Genoa coach, still carrying the aura of a World Cup-winning midfielder and Roma icon, began his tenure with promise. That early optimism has faded into a stark reality: Genoa are on a nine-match winless run in Serie A.
Their last league victory came against Pisa, a 2-1 win over a side that has since dropped out of the division. Since then, six defeats and three draws have dragged the Grifone down to second-bottom after four games of the new campaign.
They did at least remember what it feels like to win in midweek, edging Sudtirol in the domestic cup. That result, and their first clean sheet of the season, offers a sliver of momentum. Now comes the real test: can they carry that composure into the league?
The numbers are unforgiving. Genoa have scored just two league goals – the same meagre tally as Parma – and only a handful of sides defend worse. Eight conceded leaves them with the fifth-leakiest backline in Serie A, behind Venezia, Monza, Fiorentina and Udinese.
De Rossi must reshuffle again. Johan Vasquez, scorer against Frosinone and the midweek match-winner against Sudtirol, is suspended after his red card last weekend. Elias Havel (ankle) and Lorenzo Venturino (knee) are also out.
Without Vasquez, the attacking burden falls heavily on Milutin Osmajic, the only other Genoa player to score this season. His lone strike came in a 4-1 defeat to Como in early September – a reminder that even when Genoa do find the net, they often pay a heavy price at the other end.
Bijlow should continue in goal, with Marcandalli, Ostigard and Otoa forming a three-man defence. Ehizibue and Ellertsson are likely to patrol the flanks, Frendrup and Sow anchoring midfield, with Baldanzi tasked with threading passes into Osmajic and Colombo up front. On the chalkboard, it looks like a side that can press, counter and threaten. On the grass, it has yet to click consistently.
A game defined by tension, not flair
Strip away the names and the history, and Sunday’s meeting looks like a contest defined by fear as much as ambition.
Parma and Genoa share the same problems: blunt in attack, vulnerable at key moments, and already glancing nervously at the lower reaches of the table. Both have only two league goals. Both rely heavily on a small group of scorers. Both know that another defeat would deepen the gloom.
That tension has shaped this fixture recently. The last two meetings ended 0-0, stalemates that reflected caution more than creativity. The evidence points the same way again.
Parma will try to build on the small steps forward against Monza and Como. Genoa will cling to their cup clean sheet and the hope that De Rossi’s message finally lands in Serie A.
The pressure should be enough to sharpen concentration at the back, but not necessarily to free the attacking players. A third straight goalless draw between these sides would not shock anyone, least of all the two coaches pacing their technical areas.
Both clubs talk about climbing the table, about mid-table security and long-term projects. First, they have to solve a simpler puzzle: who, in this team, is going to score the goal that changes everything?
