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Peaking Parma shoots for UEFA Cup Marseille stands in way of Italian club in Moscow
Posted: Tuesday May 11, 1999 12:31 PM
MOSCOW (AP) -- Peaking at just the right time, Parma bids for its second UEFA Cup title in four years when it faces Olympique Marseille in Wednesday's final in Moscow. Marseille is seeking to become the first French team to win the UEFA Cup, six years after its sensational victory in the more prestigious Champions Cup final against AC Milan. But OM is decimated by suspensions and injuries and will be without strikers Cristophe Dugarry and Fabrizio Ravanelli and midfield stalwart Eric Roy. Parma goes in as the favorite to succeed another Italian team, Inter Milan, as UEFA Cup holder. Parma has never won the Italian league title, but captured the Cup Winners' Cup in 1993 and the UEFA Cup in 1995. On Wednesday, it can become the first club to win the Italian Cup and the UEFA Cup in the same season. Parma, a provincial team which has grown into a European soccer powerhouse in the 90s, is on a late-season roll. It captured the Italian Cup last Wednesday, beating Fiorentina in a two-leg final, and has won two straight Serie A games to move into third place and close in on a Champions League berth for next season. "The morale is high, which is important," said Parma's first-year coach Alberto Malesani. Veteran Italian defender Nestor Sensini, imaginative midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron and young striker Hernan Crespo -- teammates on the Argentine national team -- provided the spark and the goals for Parma's late season rally. Another Argentine veteran, striker Abel Balbo, will be on the substitutes bench along with flashy Colombian forward Faustino Asprilla. Asprilla, often relegated to the bench this season because of injuries and questionable form, is a first-choice substitute. He set up one goal and scored another in last Saturday's 3-1 away win against Inter. Crespo, who has scored 27 goals in league and Cup matches this season, will lead the attack along with Italian striker Enrico Chiesa. Sensini will team in defense with French World Cup champion Liliam Thuram and Italian international Fabio Cannavaro. Parma's goalkeeper is current national team No.1 GianLuigi Buffon. With Croat Mario Stanic sidelined with a thigh strain, the midfield will be patrolled by Dino Baggio, Diego Fuser, Paolo Vanoli and Alain Boghossian. Veron will play just behind the forwards. While Parma is in top form, Marseille is going through a difficult period. It has surrendered the French league leadership to Bordeaux, picking up just one point in its last three matches and has been rocked by the resignations of top club officials and violent behavior by its fans. Traditionally an attack-minded team, Marseille is likely to revert to a defensive strategy in Moscow, using Florian Maurice starting as a lone striker. But creative midfielder Jocelyn Gourvennec could be called in for a rare appearance alongside playmaker Robert Pires. "There are times in a season when a team loses its balance, when you lose your bearings," said team captain Laurent Blanc. "When this happens you have to act differently and call on other qualities and discover new strengths." The expected lineups: Olympique Marseille: Stephane Porato; Patrick Blondeau, Pierre Issa, Laurent Blanc, Cyril Domoraud, Edson, Frederic Brando, Daniel Bravo, Robert Pires, Jocelyn Gourvennec, Florian Maurice. Parma: Gianluigi Buffon; Liliam Thuram, Nestor Sensini, Fabio Cannavaro, Diego Fuser, Dino Baggio, Alain Boghossian, Paolo Vanoli, Juan Sebastian Veron, Hernan Crespo, Enrico Chiesa.
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