Baggio, Parma Knock Juventus From Unbeaten Ranks
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
PARMA, Italy (Sep 26, 1998 - 18:31 EDT) - Former Juventus player Dino Baggio haunted his old club on Saturday, helping Parma stick the Italian champions with their first league defeat at a rain-swept Tardini stadium.
The Italy midfielder, who has scored four goals against the club he left acrimoniously in 1994, sidefooted home the only goal of the match from the six-yard box in the 47th minute, after Enrico Chiesa's free kick evaded the entire Juve defense.
The win left Parma four points adrift of leaders Fiorentina in seventh place. It also relieved the pressure on new coach Alberto Malesani after his expensive side had managed just two scoreless draws in a disappointing start to the season.
After the final whistle, Malesani walked across the soggy pitch amid rumbles of thunder to embrace his French defender Lilian Thuram and salute the roars of the home supporters.
"It's important that we grow bit by bit to become a great team," said the coach, close to tears after the match. "It's important to learn to win like Juventus."
In truth, without their injured French playmaker Zinedine Zidane and with Alessandro Del Piero badly out of form, Juventus looked a shadow of their championship-winning selves and rarely appeared likely to preserve their own 100 percent record.
Midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi came closest to grabbing an equalizer when his second-half shot was tipped on to the bar by Parma's superb young goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Without a goal to show for Parma's first two league games, Malesani was finally able to deploy his preferred strike force: Italy striker Enrico Chiesa and Hernan Crespo of Argentina, both previously injured.
Instead, in the seventh minute, it was another Argentine Juan Veron who had Parma's first shot, a 30-meter drive that had Angelo Peruzzi scrambling across his goal.
It was the 18th minute before the champions threatened, Del Piero's cross beating the defense, but bouncing just too high for former Parma striker Filippo Inzaghi.
Three minutes later, however, Buffon needed to be at his best to keep out a curling shot from Inzaghi.
With players struggling to keep their balance and tackles hard to time on the waterlogged surface, an ill-tempered, scrappy first-half threatened to boil over in the 30th minute.
France's Alain Boghossian caught Croat Zoran Mirkovic with a late tackle and referee Cosimo Bolognino had to intervene quickly to break-up a melee of angry players.
On the brink of half-time, Juventus's injury-depleted defense appeared ready to wilt under a late burst of pressure.
First a mistake by Paolo Montero let in Diego Fuser, but his diagonal shot was saved by Peruzzi at the near post and then in the 45th, Veron's freekick from the left found Baggio unmarked in the six-yard box but unable to keep his header down.
The near misses set the stage for Parma's breakthrough, when Chiesa's kick deflected off a defender to Baggio.
With the Turin side facing defeat, coach Marcello Lippi sent on Uruguayan Daniel Fonseca in place of Mirkovic in the 57th minute to play just behind Del Piero and Inzaghi.
The change momentarily added bite to Juve's otherwise toothless attack and in the 68th minute, Tacchinardi evaded two challenges before forcing Buffon to turn his chip onto the bar.
Two minutes later, Fonseca sought a penalty when he pushed the ball past Buffon and artfully crashed into the keeper.
In the closing minutes, it was the home side who threatened on the counter-attack with Peruzzi twice saving Juve.
The crowd whistled as the fourth referee signaled five minutes of stoppage time but, with Italy's Fabio Cannavaro and Thuram commanding in central defense, Parma held on to earn the ultimate tribute from Juventus coach Marcello Lippi.
"They (Parma) are an excellent side, at the same level of Juventus," he said afterward.
