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The historic rivalry between Parma and Juventus has always been an important one. Parma, once one of the greats, fought with Juventus for multiple league titles and European titles and overall the title of the best team in Italy along with AC Milan, Inter, etc. Now, Parma are in Serie B and Juventus in Serie A, currently competing for their 7th straight league title. Both teams will face each other in the Italian Cup for the First Round in what should be a very interesting game. Just to remind you all, the last match between those two sides was on the 11th of April 2015 in the Serie A and it actually finished 1-0 to Parma, thanks to a goal from Jose Mauri, who now plays on loan for Boca Juniors in Argentina on loan from AC Milan.
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Overall, Juventus definitely have the better record out of the two teams but Cannavaro and his men shouldn't despair and have every chance of getting a good result against the current Italian champions. Below we will now post the predicted lineups and the men to watch for both teams before jumping in the actual game for our live commentary!
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Juventus are currently unbeaten all season in all competitions and have won 3 of their last games so it will definitely be incredibly hard for Parma to get anything out of this match against their arch rivals but perhaps what should give them some hope is Juventus' last performance against Genoa, which finished 0-0 as Juve played away from home.
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Parma on the other hand, have won their last 5 games and are unbeaten in 8 matches, with their last defeat coming up against Ascoli in late October. With 16 goals scored in 5 games and 5 conceded, it's fair to say that Cannavaro taught his players how to attack very well but the defensive aspect of things is looking a bit weak. Coming up against an opposition as strong as Juventus, we should definitely see Parma put out their strongest team but Juve might play some of their youngsters in the cup match to give them some playing time in the first team. Now, let's not waste any more time and get straight into the game!
KICK OFF
1' And we're underway here at the Juventus Stadium, it's 6pm Italian time and the hosts Juventus take on their rivals Parma for their first match in 2 years! The winner of this match could go on and face Inter in the quarter-final, which could be easy for Juventus but a nightmare for Parma, although if they manage to beat Juventus today then we don't see why they can't beat Inter either.
4' Huge blow for Parma as their centre midfielder Manuel Scavone, a key part of Cannavaro's set up with Parma, comes off injured and is going to have to be replaced by new signing Alessandro Bruno.
17' Pretty even match so far but Juventus definitely have more quality and it shows on the field as Sturaro links up with Lanini who gives it to Higuain to make it 1-0 to the home side!
40' Parma manage their second shot of the game and it's on target but not enough to beat Neto in goal. Dybala gets the ball from the keeper and launches a counter-attack and gives the ball to Higuain who buries it in the back of the net for his 13th of the season and it's now 2-0 to Juventus just before half-time.
44' Parma not giving up as they get an attack and manage to cross the ball into the box and Marchi gets on it and takes it past one Juve defender before crossing it back in for Manuel Marras who volleys it onto the post and in! Parma score just before the half-time whistle and are right back in it! What a match!
It's very clear that Juventus have been crushing Parma so far in terms of shots but fair play to Cannavaro's side because they've defended incredibly well and took their chances when they had them. Just 3 shots on goal and they managed to score 1 which means it's all to play for after 45 minutes at the Juventus Stadium and Parma could cause a huge upset tonight if they manage to grab even one more goal and get a draw! Let's get on with this second half then.
SECOND HALF KICK OFF
49' Parma are showing that they want to get something from this game with yet another attack but Garufo's cross is blocked and Juventus are off with the counter as the ball gets to Dybala and he gives it to Lanini who passes it inside the box to Higuain once again and the Argentine poacher makes it 3-1 to the home side and gets his hat-trick!
50' Parma bounce straight back from the goal they conceded as De Cenco finds Carpi in the box who's one on one with the keeper but he smashes it over and wastes an incredible chance to get back in the game once again.
54' Higuain with another great chance as he's through on goal from a Lanini pass but Viotti saves Parma from a 4th and gives away a corner.
63' Absolutely amazing play from Parma who have kept the ball from their goal kick and Marras finds Carpi who passes it to Bruno who smashes it first time from outside the box but it hits the post and the rebound comes back to Baraye who taps it in and Parma are back in it again! It's 3-2 now with just under half an hour to go!
68' Cannavaro takes off De Cenco and Gasbarro who haven't really been performing today and puts on Calaiò and Coly to strengthen his attack and his defence.
71' Huge chance for Calaiò after a great move by Parma but he can't find the back of the net after an amazing save by Neto! He's kept Juventus in the lead for now!
87' Huge save from Viotti who keeps Parma in the game with just 3 minutes left now! This is a lot more intense than we thought it would be!
92' Mandzukic gets the ball in the box from Higuan and puts the game to bed with a goal, it's now 4-2 and Parma fought to try and get a good result but in the end Juventus were just too strong.
The result might have been tough to take for Parma considering how well they played and how much better they did compared to how we thought they'd do against such a strong side but in the end it made sense and the Italian champions advance, leaving behind their rivals in the Serie B. What a match this was overall and what a performance from both teams. Higuain was outstanding for sure but you really have to applaud the effort that Parma made to give Juventus problems and make sure that it wasn't so easy for them which in the end it wasn't because the scoreline only shows 4-2 when it could've been a lot more as Juventus had 31 shots. Definitely a match that will give Cannavaro some confidence for the rest of the month because Parma did do very well out there. In other news, Scavone had to come off injured in this match after just 4 minutes and it's now been revealed how long he will be out for:
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Cannavaro announced that his key midfielder would be out for 3 months but that it was much better news than anticipated as the club agreed to pay a fee in order to send Scavone to a specialist, otherwise he might have been injured for up to 7 months with his broken ankle. Nevertheless, Parma now need to look ahead to their Sampdoria, Cittadella and Spezia fixtures before they can go on a well earned winter break until the end of January 2018. Thank you all for tuning in for this amazing Juventus-Parma match, we hope to be doing more of these live commentaries in the future!