Cagliari made a strong start to Serie A: they beat Parma 0-1 at the Tardini in a relegation battle. Romano scored with a spectacular left-footed strike.

The Rossoblù lined up in a 4-3-2-1 formation, with Deiola and Rodríguez preferring Mina in defense, and Maldini making his debut from the start . The number 70, who had already made his debut for Cagliari as a substitute in the Coppa Italia against Arezzo, made a good run down the right in the fourth minute and passed to Mendy, whose shot was blocked. Parma made its presence felt in the 13th minute, following a mistake by Fazzini, Bernabé passed it straight to Touré, and Caprile saved a right-footed shot from the edge of the box.

The first big chance of the match came in the 15th minute for Cagliari, when Maldini received the ball twenty meters away and curled it onto his right foot for a splendid curling shot: Corvi was outplayed, and the shot went just wide of the top corner . After the half-time cooling-off, Maldini once again made his presence felt when Obert passed him in the box in the 28th minute, and he—rather than shoot—tried to dribble and lacked the momentum to finish the move.

Parma made a comeback in the 35th minute, with a cross from the right blocked by Zé Pedro at the edge of the box, where Ordóñez picked out a low shot that went wide. But Cagliari came close again to taking the lead a minute later, with an assist from Obert on the left for Mendy, who turned in the box and fired a drop shot. His shot was decisively deflected by Ndiaye, which hit the post . In the 42nd minute, Bernabé's left-footed shot went wide. It was again the Gialloblù, in the 44th minute, with a free kick that was laid off by Troilo and Ordóñez's header going wide. At the start of three minutes of added time, Romano's free kick sent captain Deiola heading the ball into the side-netting.

The second half resumed without changes, with Maldini playing Winks in the middle from the left in the 52nd minute, who had space to shoot; his right-footed effort from twenty meters was saved on the ground by Corvi. Parma surged forward, shooting in the 58th minute from a free kick played by Bernabé to Valeri (Caprile saved on the ground), and a minute later, they capitalized on a Cagliari error coming out to cross from Keita to Lontani (left-footed shot over). However, when Cagliari regained their composure, they were extremely dangerous: in the 60th minute, Maldini made another move, passing Fazzini, who ran well in the tight space and forced Corvi to tip the ball onto the post, with the rebound going to the goalkeeper .

Adopo and Mendy teamed up in the 64th minute, with the former freeing up a shot, but Troilo's save proved decisive. Less than a minute later, Romano also had a shot, set up by Fazzini, but this time Corvi saved. Then came the first changes in the 66th minute: Parma's Almqvist replaced Bernabé, while Cagliari's Zappa, Felici, and Borrelli replaced Zé Pedro, Fazzini (the two booked), and Mendy. Shortly after, in the 69th minute and before the cooling-off period, a cleared corner gave Winks a good chance, but he missed.

For the final quarter of an hour, Kouda and Diallo came on for Keita, and Lontani for the Gialloblu. But it was Cagliari who scored, in the 79th minute with an absolute marvel: Winks recovered, passed to Adopo, who passed to Romano, and the midfielder who arrived from Spezia unleashed a sensational left-footed shot from over twenty-five meters, which Corvi touched, but only to send into the top corner . It was his first goal in Serie A, there couldn't have been a better way to do it, and he dedicated it by showing off Trepy's jersey.

Parma responded with Valeri, who had space to shoot in the 84th minute and did so from the edge of the box, but his left-footed shot went wide. Immediately afterward, Cremaschi and Elphege came on for Troilo and Konaté, while Pisacane replaced Maldini with Kingstone and handed over Aurelio for Obert (87'). In the third of five minutes of added time, Valeri's free kick was met by Elphege's header .

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