The 1st round ties of this season’s Coppa Italia are due to be played this weekend and one of the cup-ties features this intriguing clash between last season’s Serie A strugglers, Salernitana, and their Serie B visitors, Parma, when the two teams face each other at Stadio Arechi on Sunday evening.
Salernitana escaped what seemed to be almost certain relegation from Serie A last season as the hosts finished sitting fourth from bottom but with just one point separating them from the bottom three and the drop through the trap-door to Serie B.
🇱🇻 Grigoris Kastanos is back 🇱🇻#Kastanos #macteanimo #uss1919 pic.twitter.com/j3yCnVLsfu— US Salernitana 1919 (@OfficialUSS1919) August 2, 2022
🇱🇻 Grigoris Kastanos is back 🇱🇻#Kastanos #macteanimo #uss1919 pic.twitter.com/j3yCnVLsfu
For all money it looked like being a brief stay in the Italian top flight for the newcomers, Salernitana.
The hosts managed to claim just one win within an extremely dismal period of 20 league matches, which came in the form of a 2-1 win away at mid-table Verona but Salernitana rallied in dramatic fashion thereafter.
Salernitana suffered just one further defeat in their subsequent eight league matches in Serie A which included vital wins against Sampdoria, Udinese, Fiorentina and Venezia which ultimately saved them.
The hosts will be keen to pick up where they left off in this Coppa Italia tie.
Parma produced a fairly forgettable campaign in last season’s Serie B as the visitors finished in an unremarkable id-table position of 12th place with relegation not being a problem as they held a 14-point buffer over 16th placed Cosenza, but also nine points shy of 8th placed Perugia and the promotion play-off spots.
From mid-February through to early April though, Parma had looked to be on the fringes of making a late claim for a possible play-off spot in the Italian second tier.
The visitors had put together a solid looking unbeaten run of nine games which included picking up four crucial wins.
However, the wheels came off in dramatic fashion immediately afterwards as Parma crashed to three defeats on the trot, incurring losses against Brescia, Ascoli and Perugia respectively.
And although they re-discovered their touch with a draw against Alessandria and a final day 1-0 win away at Crotone, it was too late by then for Parma.
To sum up, if Salernitana can discover the momentum they found in the latter stages of last season’s Serie A campaign, then the hosts should run out winners here.