Simeone's brace punishes Parma as Gilardino's home bow turns sour
Giovanni Simeone scored twice and set up another as Torino dismantled Parma 3-0 at the Tardini, overshadowing Alberto Gilardino's first home game in charge.
Giovanni Simeone scored twice and Che Adams added a third as Torino beat Parma 3-0 at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, turning Alberto Gilardino's first home match as head coach into a chastening afternoon, Football Italia reported.
Parma arrived already stretched. They had lost 3-0 at Inter in their previous outing and were without Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, Pontus Almqvist and Elphege, the last of whom had undergone surgery for appendicitis. Gilardino restored Adrián Bernabé to midfield and handed a start to Giovanni Fabbian.
Torino's own team sheet had gaps too, with Niccolò Fortini and Emirhan Ilkhan absent. Ignazio Abate brought Ardian Ismajli into defence in place of Ricardo Rodríguez, the only change to a side that had beaten Udinese in its previous fixture.
Belghali's delivery did the damage twice over
Torino needed under four minutes to break the deadlock, and the move that produced it became the template for the afternoon. Rafik Belghali lofted a cross into the box and Simeone finished left-footed into the top corner, the first sign that Torino intended to attack the space in behind Parma's back line rather than build patiently through midfield.
That same connection resurfaced on 69 minutes. Belghali won a header and found Simeone, who took the ball on and drove a shot from distance into the top corner to settle the contest. Two goals created by the same player, aimed at the same forward, pointed to a deliberate plan to isolate Belghali against Parma's full-back and get the ball to Simeone in positions where he could finish first time rather than build an attack.
Adams's goal in between came from a different source but the same instinct for second balls. Simeone's own shot was blocked, and Adams reacted quickest to the rebound, heading home from close range. The goal stood after a VAR check for offside, the first of three such reviews that shaped the afternoon.
Parma created chances but could not solve Perri's opposite number
Gilardino's side were not passive. Lucas Perri had to produce a diving save to deny David Romero and gathered headers from Diego Carlos and Fabbian as Parma probed for a route back into the game. Enrico Delprato should have halved the deficit just before half-time but steered a chance from inside the six-yard box wide.
The half-time changes, Dominik Drobnič and Simone Lontani introduced for Gilardino, briefly lifted the pressure. El Bilal Touré headed narrowly off target, Lontani fired over, and Perri was called into further saves from Bernabé and Mariano Troilo. Romero also curled a shot just past the far post. None of it converted into a goal, and the volume of half-chances without a finish summed up Parma's afternoon: territory and attempts, but little precision in the moments that mattered.
Sascha Britschgi was booked for simulation during that spell, a detail that reflected Parma's growing frustration as clear sight of goal kept eluding them even as they dominated spells of the second half.
VAR denies Frigan as Torino see out the win comfortably
Substitute Matija Frigan thought he had given Parma a consolation goal late on, turning in a pass from Djibril Diallo, but the goal was ruled out for offside on review. It was the second offside intervention of the match to go against the home side, after Adams's goal had already survived a similar check earlier on. Perri was otherwise untroubled late on, holding a shot comfortably after a Parma player's solo run.
The pattern of the match, two Torino goals confirmed by VAR and one Parma goal struck off by it, left Gilardino's side with almost nothing to show for the chances they did generate. Torino, by contrast, needed only a handful of clean moments, each converted by Simeone or created directly for him, to make the contest safe well before the final whistle.
For Torino, the result builds on their win over Udinese and continues a run in which quick transitions down the flank, particularly through Belghali, have translated directly into goals. For Parma, the defeat following the heavy loss at Inter leaves Gilardino with a clear problem to address before his side's next fixture: generating the same volume of chances is not the issue, finishing them is.