Parma will face Sassuolo on the 38th matchday of Serie A 2025-26 with Alessandro Corvi starting in goal, manager Carlos Cuesta confirmed before kickoff for the Parma - Sassuolo fixture.
Cuesta assembled a Parma backline of Britschgi, Circati, Troilo, Valenti and Valeri in front of Corvi, a midfield trio of Ordonez, Nicolussi Caviglia and Keita, and an attack featuring Mikolajewski and Pellegrino. Across the pitch Fabio Grosso selected Turati in goal for Sassuolo, backed by a defence of Coulibaly, Idzes, Macchioni and Garcia, a midfield of Thorstvedt, Lipani and Konè, and a front three of Berardi, Pinamonti and Laurienté.
The weight of the day is straightforward: Cuesta said Parma have been focused all week on reaching 45 points and on trying to finish the season as high as 12th place. He confirmed Corvi would start and listed a long injury and availability problem that has reshaped his selection. He named Rinaldi, Cremaschi, Delprato, Strefezza, Estevez, Elphege, Bernabé, Ondrejka and Oristanio as players who will not be available, and added that the absences add another layer of difficulty. To fill the gaps he has called up Primavera players Mazzocchi, Mena, Plicco, Tigani, Mikolajewski and Cardinali; among them Mikolajewski is already in the first XI.
Cuesta framed the selection as pragmatic: Corvi will play with ten teammates, and that selection alone is meaningful, he said, while stressing that the team’s objective this week has been clear — to reach 45 points — and that the club will try to secure 12th place if possible. He insisted the list of missing players is an extra difficulty but that he will not accept excuses and expects a strong performance.
That context matters now. Parma have already secured safety for the season, a fact Cuesta acknowledged, but they arrive at this finale on the back of three consecutive defeats. The match is Parma’s last of the season, according to Fantacalcio sources, so there is no second leg, only a final chance to hit the points target and climb the table as high as circumstances allow.
The friction in this story is immediate: a club that has clinched survival still wants to push for a specific points total and a 12th-place finish, yet faces that aim with a depleted squad and recent poor form. Cuesta’s solution is to trust youth — six Primavera players were called up — and to start Corvi in goal while reshuffling a defence and midfield battered by absences. That mix of ambition and enforced makeshift selection raises the question of whether young, inexperienced additions can produce the consistency Parma need to reach 45 points.
The match against Sassuolo will therefore be both a test of Parma’s depth and a last audition for the Primavera group summoned into the first-team fold. If Cuesta’s backing of his available starters and his pledge of no excuses hold true on the field, Parma can still close the season on their own terms; if not, the club may finish short of the small, clearly stated targets it set for itself heading into the final day.
