Parma v Fiorentina: Mutu Double

By: Martha | January 13th, 2008

Cocky Adrian I’m irredeemably biased when it comes to Bobo Vieri, but based on the first half today, I think anyone could see why Cesare Prandelli prefers him to Giampaolo Pazzini right now: He plays simple and smart and, mostly importantly links up really well with Adrian Mutu, who is indesputably the focus of the Fiorentina attack. Additionally, it seems like Mutu whines a lot less when Pazzini’s not on the pitch crying about everything, and anything that gets him to actually focus on the match is a bonus. Within the first five minutes, Bobo made a great dummy run and was set up for a volley by a lovely cushioned header from Mutu, and he returned the favor just a short time later — for whatever reason, the slow old man plays well with the punk, and there’s no reason to split them up until it stops working. (And, um, I hope their failure to hook up on a couple of occasions in the second half doesn’t mean it’s stopped.)

Unfortunately for the Viola, Parma weren’t just standing around watching them play — the match was wide open, and it was a miracle Parma didn’t go ahead in the eight minute, when they had either four or five shots without literally about eight seconds. Most of them were knocked down by defenders, but Sebastian Frey made one of his trademarks reaction saves during the flurry, and reminded everyone who it’s so nice to have him back. About 10 minutes later, Andrea Pisanu — probably Parma’s best player in the first half — beat Frey but hit the post, and shortly after that Frey was beaten again, only to have the shot go wide.

At the other end, Mario Santana, Vieri, Mutu and Riccardo Montolivo continued to link up well, with the latter frequently worrying Luca Bucci, forcing the keeper into self-preservation with one shot, and turning a picture-perfect tackled into a strong, long-distance effort shortly thereafter. It was off one of Montolivo’s efforts that Fiorentina got their first goal: Bucci put it out for a corner, and Mutu’s resulting header was deflected into the net, putting the Viola into the lead going into halftime. Despite his history there, Parma supporters are no fans of Mutu, and though he kept himself from celebrating much, there was a fair amount of shushing, both after the goal and as he left the pitch after the halftime whistle. (I swear even I disapproved.)*

The Romanian remained lively to open the second half, and created several opportunities for the Viola, either shooting himself or setting up others. Ferdinand Coly was a rock for Parma, though, constantly presenting the physical opposition that tends to cause Mutu problems (though, to his credit, he actually just got up and played most of the time) and closing down his runs and crosses on a regular basis. Because of his work on defense, it was only right that Coly be the one to bring Parma level, which he did with a rocket header with 20 minutes left in the match. At full fitness, Frey might have made the save, but it’s hard to blame him for failing to react immediately to a shot that hard.

Both teams kept pushing for the win, but tired legs made the last chunk of the match pretty ragged. Late tackles were flying in right and left, and people were doing down like a proverbial house of cards but, to his credit (and to the frustration of everyone who thought they were being fouled), referee Brighi mostly kept out of the way, and just let people get on with it. Out of the way, that is, until Bobo turned in the box and went down in the 85th minute, winning a penalty for Fiorentina. There was definitely minimal contact, but it was the kind of penalty experienced, smart players — Francesco Totti, for example (and that’s not an isult, I swear) — win because they know exactly where the feet of defenders will be when they turn. Mutu stepped and put the PK away, and that was that.

As we speak, the Viola are a point from a ~~European~~ Champions League spot — we’ll see if they can stay there.

*It’s being reported that sections of the Parma support brought out the tried and true “gypsy” chats for Mutu, which goes a long way towards explaining/excusing the shushing.

Edit: ViolaTim’s match report is here.