Serie A | Parma 1-2 Bologna: Ducali’s Derby hope ruined by early red card

Parma were down to 10 men for practically all of this local derby, yet were only beaten 2-1 by Bologna thanks to Arthur Theate and a Riccardo Orsolini penalty, a fourth straight victory.

This was an intriguing Emilia-Romagna Derby between two sides who already changed coach early in the campaign. Alberto Gilardino was celebrating his first victory on the Parma bench with a 3-0 away to Atalanta on Monday, but missed Adrian Bernabé and Dominik Drobnic.

Bologna were on a roll under Raffaele Palladino of three straight wins, even with Jay Enem, Emil Holm and Lorenzo De Silvestri sidelined, but were boosted by the return of Roberto Piccoli to the bench.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

In the opening minute, Giovanni Daffara had to scramble the ball round the near post when Federico Bernardeschi’s snapshot took a double deflection.

The game changed after eight minutes when Abdoulaye Ndiaye and Jens Odgaard went down in a tangle just outside the penalty area, the referee originally waving play on to suggest they were fouling each other. However, he changed his mind following a VAR review, as Odgaard having a handful of shorts was considered insufficient to rescue Ndiaye from a red card for DOGSO (Denial of a Goal Scoring Opportunity).

Bologna started to pour forward against 10-man Parma, with a Juan Miranda volley charged down by Benja Cremaschi, and a couple of headers from Odgaard and Nicolò Casale just off target.

David Romero fell very awkwardly after a Casale sliding tackle and seemed to dislocate his shoulder, so had to be substituted.

Enrico Delprato’s header flashed wide of the far post on a free kick, but Bologna were also forced into a change for Miranda’s muscular injury.

Substitute Samuel Mbangula’s curler was palmed out from under the bar, then Daffara was tested by Odgaard at the near post, also parrying a Tommaso Pobega strike.

Federico Bernardeschi’s acrobatic volley on a Nicolò Cambiaghi cross forced another strong Daffara save at the dawn of the second half, while Cambiaghi’s free header was straight at the Parma goalkeeper.

The siege finally paid off when Cambiaghi stood up a cross from the right for the Theate diving header from six yards to break the deadlock.

Moments later, the referee pointed to the spot for a Mandela Keita foul on Bernardeschi, but VAR clarified the contact was just outside the penalty area.

Daffara needed quick reactions after a mad scramble in the six-yard box on a corner, yet Parma nearly equalised on the hour mark when El Bilal Touré started the run from midfield against the entire Bologna defence and was only denied by Lukasz Skorupski’s trailing leg.

Penalty appeals were initially rejected for an incredibly risky Touré tackle from behind on Cambiaghi, a decision that was changed following the VAR review which showed he made no contact with the ball. Riccardo Orsolini converted with power despite Daffara guessing the right way.

VAR got involved again at the other end when Giovanni Fabbian tried an audacious backwards flick from six yards on a set play and was caught by Martin Vitik in the process. A penalty was awarded following a review, and Vincent Sierro converted to keep 10-man Parma in the game.

So did Daffara, getting down to push a Bernardeschi free kick round the far post, so in added time Christian Ordonez saw his screamer fly just over the bar.

It was 10-man Parma who pushed to the bitter end.

Theate 53 (B), Orsolini pen 72 (B), Sierro pen 81 (P)

Sent off: Ndiaye 9 (P)

	07-11-2026 17:00
MatchDay 11
Parma Store (Stadio Ennio Tardini)
Parma	Bologna
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1st half

2nd half

Parma

Bologna