Parma have defied the pre-season predictions as they sit just one point off a Champions League spot with over a third of the campaign already completed.
The Gialloblu supporters must be loving life right now after their exile to the second tier of Italian football and will be trying hard to keep their feet firmly on the ground.
Francesco Guidolin has had a fantastic start to his managerial career with the Crociati, taking them up last year and now producing the goods at the highest domestic level. Gone are the days when Parma had superstars such as Hernan Crespo, Lilian Thuram and Gigi Buffon – Guidolin has had to be shrewd in the transfer market on a limited budget to sustain success.
The signing of Valeri Bojinov is another clever bit of business as the Bulgarian has undoubted quality but with chances extremely limited at Eastlands, Parma have stepped in to reap the benefits.
Fiorentina currently occupy that coveted fourth spot in the League, a position of which they have been reluctant to relinquish over the last two seasons. This year though the ambitions have been raised and Viola fans are hoping for more and so games like these are, in truth, must wins.
Cesare Prandelli had a spell in charge of Saturday's opponents between 2002 and 2004 when the mantra was sell, sell, sell. Fortunately for the 52-year-old, he is now at a club with the financial stability to build on his own vision, which he is certainly doing and has been doing since he joined the club back in 2004.
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