Parma vs Genoa: Serie A Strugglers Seek First Win

Two of Serie A’s strugglers collide at the Ennio Tardini on Sunday, as Parma and Genoa — both still waiting for their first league win of the 2026-27 campaign — try to drag themselves out of an early-season rut.

Neither side has tasted victory in Serie A. Both have only found any joy in the cups. Something has to give in Emilia-Romagna. Or does it?

Parma searching for a spark

Parma’s season has been stuck in neutral since mid-August.

Carlos Cuesta’s team have not won a game in any competition since a 2-0 Coppa Italia victory over Catania more than a month ago. Since then, four defeats in five have drained momentum and confidence.

The goals have dried up at the worst possible time. Parma failed to score in league losses to Cagliari (1-0) and Juventus (2-0), then went out of the Coppa Italia with another 2-0 defeat, this time to Cremonese at the start of September.

Only in the last two outings has a faint pulse returned. A 1-1 draw with Monza finally put a first point on the board on matchday four, followed by a narrow 2-1 defeat to Champions League debutants Como on Monday night. Not enough, but at least a sign of life.

Parma have not beaten Genoa in three years and are winless in their last four meetings with the Ligurian club. That run nags at them going into Sunday. The Ennio Tardini expects a reaction.

Cuesta’s selection problems are limited but significant. Hans Nicolussi Caviglia misses out with a groin issue, the coach’s only confirmed absentee, yet the bigger hole is one the club created in the summer: last season’s nine-goal forward Mateo Pellegrino is now at Fiorentina.

Without him, Parma are still searching for a new match-winner. So far, only Simone Lontani and David Romero have scored in Serie A after four gameweeks. Two names, two goals, and a glaring illustration of why the Emilians sit on the brink near the bottom.

Cuesta is likely to stick with a familiar structure, hoping understanding can compensate for a lack of cutting edge:

Parma possible starting XI: Corvi; Delprato, Troilo, Carlos; Britschgi, Bernabe, Keita, Valeri; Toure, Lontani; Romero.

Genoa stuck in reverse

On the opposite bench, Daniele De Rossi walks into the Tardini with his own problems.

Genoa arrive buoyed slightly by a midweek cup win over Sudtirol, but the league tells a harsher story. Under the former World Cup-winning midfielder, the Grifone are on a nine-match winless run in Serie A.

Their last league victory? A 2-1 success over Pisa, who have since dropped out of the division. Since that day, Genoa have collected six defeats and three draws. Four games into this season, they sit second-bottom.

The table offers a glimmer of hope. Three points on Sunday could lift De Rossi’s side as high as 13th, depending on other results. That climb, though, depends on fixing problems at both ends of the pitch.

Genoa have scored just two league goals — the same meagre total as Parma, who sit 17th — and only four sides have conceded more than their eight goals shipped: Venezia, Monza and Fiorentina (all 11) and Udinese (10).

The one positive is the platform they built in midweek. Genoa finally recorded their first clean sheet of the season in any competition. Now the question is whether that defensive base can carry into Serie A and end a 10-game wait for a league victory.

De Rossi will be forced into changes. Johan Vasquez, the scorer against Frosinone and the match-winner versus Sudtirol in the cup, is suspended after seeing red last weekend. His absence removes one of the few players in form.

Elias Havel (ankle) and Lorenzo Venturino (knee) are also out injured, trimming Genoa’s options further.

That puts more weight on Milutin Osmajic. With Vasquez sidelined, Osmajic stands as the club’s only other scorer this term, heading into Sunday looking to add to the solitary goal he netted in the 4-1 loss to Como in early September.

Genoa possible starting XI: Bijlow; Marcandalli, Ostigard, Otoa; Ehizibue, Frendrup, Sow, Ellertsson; Baldanzi; Osmajic, Colombo.

A game that could be decided by one mistake

Strip this fixture down and the picture is stark: two teams short on confidence, even shorter on goals.

Parma and Genoa have managed two league goals each. Both have laboured in the final third. Both lean heavily on systems and structure because individual brilliance has been in short supply.

Recent history between them does not promise fireworks either. The last two meetings ended 0-0. The pattern points the same way.

Prediction: Parma 0-0 Genoa.

For two managers under early scrutiny, it may only take a single moment — a slip, a set piece, a deflection — to tilt their seasons one way or the other.