Serie A: Parma Snatch Late Win Over 10-Man Monza

Monza's late equalizer was cancelled out by Parma's Lautaro Valenti, who scored a dramatic winner in the 98th minute.

Monza demonstrated remarkable resilience despite being reduced to 10 men, as they fought back from a contentious penalty to push Parma to the limit. The match seemed destined for a draw, but Parma ultimately emerged victorious, scoring the winning goal in the 98th minute on Salvatore Bocchetti's debut.

Parma had been reeling from a crisis, having suffered three consecutive defeats, which had left them depleted due to injuries. The absent players included Enrico Delprato, Nahuel Estevez, Adrian Bernabé, Mateusz Kowalski, Alessandro Circati, and Gabriel Charpentier. Meanwhile, Monza underwent a change in leadership, with Alessandro Nesta being replaced by new coach Salvatore Bocchetti. However, Monza also had to contend with a lengthy injury list, missing key players such as Dany Mota Carvalho, Luca Caldirola, and Georgios Kyriakopoulos.

Monza burst out of the gates with unbridled intensity, catching their opponents off guard. A mere 52 seconds into the match, Daniel Maldini found himself with ample time and space, but he volleyed wide from Samuele Birindelli's pinpoint cross.

The match descended into chaos moments later, as Maldini thundered a shot against the crossbar. In the ensuing scramble, his back-heeled follow-up was desperately cleared off the line, and Patrick Ciurria unleashed a powerful strike that rattled the roof of the net. However, the euphoria was short-lived, as the VAR review disallowed the goal due to Gianluca Caprari's failure to keep the ball in play during the build-up.

Maldini thought he had finally found the back of the net on nine minutes, but his celebrations were cut short once again. This time, it was due to Caprari's blatant offside position before providing the assist for Maldini's tap-in, prompting the referee to chalk off the goal.

Monza's Gianluca Caprari successfully evaded the offside trap, latching onto a perfectly weighted ball over the top. He then unleashed an angled drive that forced Zion Suzuki into a spectacular fingertip save, with the goalkeeper expertly diverting the shot around the far post.

The match took a dramatic turn on 54 minutes, amidst a cloud of controversy. Pablo Mari initiated a tackle on Woyo Coulibaly just inside the penalty area, initially appearing to win the ball. However, his follow-through caught Coulibaly's ankle, prompting a lengthy VAR review. The referee ultimately awarded Parma a penalty and issued a second yellow card to Pablo Mari, reducing Monza to 10 men. Hernani calmly converted the spot-kick, capitalizing on the numerical advantage.

Milan Djuric made a dramatic return to action for Monza, coming off the bench after an injury layoff and finding the net within just 120 seconds. However, his joy was short-lived, as the goal was ultimately ruled out for offside.

Parma were then awarded another contentious penalty, as the referee adjudged that Camara had been fouled by Birindelli's arm across his chest. However, following a VAR review, the referee was prompted to conduct an On-Field Review, a rare occurrence when contact is involved. Upon further inspection, it was deemed that Camara had exaggerated the contact, and the penalty was subsequently overturned.

Despite being reduced to 10 men, Monza staged a remarkable late comeback, snatching an equalizer through Pedro Pereira's header from Kevin Martins' cross. However, Parma refused to give up, pouring forward in search of a winner. In the end, it was Lautaro Valenti who proved to be the hero, scoring the decisive goal with a flicked header from a corner deep into stoppage time.