Juventus 4 : 1 Parma - New ground breeds brilliance for Juve

Posted Sunday, September 11, 2011 by PA

Juventus baptised their new stadium in style with a thumping 4-1 win over Parma that takes them to the top of the Serie A table.

Antonio Conte could hardly have wished for a better start to life as coach of the Bianconeri as goals from Stephan Lichtsteiner, Simone Pepe, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio eased them through their opening league game.

A red card for Paolo De Ceglie and Sebastian Giovinco's consolation for Parma prevented it from being a perfect start, but there were few complaints from the 40,000 fans inside the new Juventus Stadium.

A new-look Juventus had Andrea Pirlo pulling the strings in the midfield and he provided two sumptuous assists to mark his debut in style. The first came in the 17th minute when he lifted the ball over the Parma defence into the path of debutant Lichtsteiner, who touched the ball past the goalkeeper with his right foot and slotted it in with his left.

An almost identical pass in the 83rd minute from the Italy international gave Marchisio the chance to crown a superlative performance with a delicate lob on the volley over Marco Storari.

But it was not only the new faces who shone for the home side.

Alessandro Del Piero rolled back the years with an assist for their second goal in the 58th minute as he bisected the Parma defence with a pass for Pepe, who drilled his shot across Mirante into the far corner.

Only minutes earlier, another Del Piero pass sent Alessandro Matri free, but his shot hit the inside of the right-hand upright and rolled agonisingly along the goal line without crossing it.

It was not Matri's day, having seen a valid headed goal ruled out for offside in the 39th minute.

But it was definitely Juve's day, and a good one for their debutants as Vidal scored with his first touch in the 73rd minute, volleying past Storari from 20 yards after Mirko Vucinic's shot rebounded back to the Chilean off a Parma defender.

The only disappointment for the home side was a red card for De Ceglie in the last minute as he fouled Giovinco inside the penalty area. The former Juve forward stepped up to score a consolation for Parma.