Promoted Parma achieved a surprising 2-1 triumph over AC Milan in Serie A, prolonging manager Paulo Fonseca’s quest for his inaugural victory as coach of the visiting team. Parma astounded Milan with an early goal courtesy of Dennis Man, who struck with his initial touch after 83 seconds.
Christian Pulisic levelled the score for Milan in the 66th minute, following a low pass from Rafael Leao to the American midfielder, who finished from close range. However, substitute Matteo Cancellieri reinstated Parma’s lead 11 minutes later. Milan, who secured a 2-2 draw in their season opener against Torino with two late goals, currently sit in 16th place with one point in the standings. Parma, who clinched promotion to the top tier of Italian football after finishing first in Serie B last season, temporarily sit atop the table with four points. The home team started energetically against their illustrious opponents, and Man scored his second goal of the season after a pass from Emanuele Valeri. Romanian player Man recorded 17 goal involvements in Serie B last season, finding the back of the net on 11 occasions.
Parma displayed strong defensive organization and continued to make it challenging for Milan to threaten their goal.
Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, in the meantime, performed admirably in thwarting Noah Okafor and Strahinja Pavlovic’s few first-half attempts for the visiting team. Milan exhibited greater determination in the second half, and Tijjani Reijnders struck the crossbar before Suzuki denied Pulisic. Parma, on the other hand, did not solely focus on defending their lead, and Ange-Yoan Bonny believed he had increased their advantage, but was deemed offside. Pulisic managed to equalize for Milan, only for Cancellieri to regain the lead for Parma with a well-placed shot, 13 minutes before the end of the match, after Pontus Almqvist swiftly moved along the left side to set him up. For the first time since 2011-12, Milan has been unable to win at least one of their two opening games of the season.
The Rossoneri had remained undefeated in their previous eight encounters with Parma, a streak that extends back over a decade.
Meanwhile Champions Inter beat Lecce 2-1, while Udinese beat Lazio 2-0.
