Parma go into Parma vs Cagliari without the striker who scored 9 of their 28 Serie A goals last season. Mateo Pellegrino's exit leaves a simple question for Carlos Cuesta: who replaces that output quickly enough for the opener? Parma finished 13th last season with 45 points, 11 wins, 12 draws and 15 defeats.
Parma's missing goals
The issue is not just that Pellegrino is gone, it is how much of the attack went through him. Parma scored only 28 league goals last season, so losing 9 from one player cuts deep into a side that already finished only a point or two away from the teams around it. Zion Suzuki and Alessandro Circati are among the names Cuesta will lean on, but the opener still asks for a cleaner answer in front of goal.
Sports Mole put it plainly: "Although Parma's star players are being picked off by bigger clubs, Cuesta has built a solid base at Stadio Tardini."
Why Cagliari make this awkward
Cagliari are the reason this does not feel like a comfortable home banker. They have beaten Parma in three of their last four Serie A meetings, and they managed just four away wins last season. Fabio Pisacane's side finished 14th last season, only two points behind Parma, so the gap between the clubs was narrow before the new campaign even started.
Sports Mole's view is that "Cagliari are not traditionally great travellers, and they produced just four away wins last season, so the hosts will edge a tight contest."
That is the read worth taking into Parma vs Cagliari: Parma have home advantage and finished above Cagliari last season, but the visitors' recent hold over the fixture keeps the margin tight. A low-scoring Parma win looks more likely than anything more convincing, and the opener at Stadio Tardini should tell us quickly whether Cuesta has found a new source of goals.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
