Parma come into this Serie A opener with a spring in their step after a tidy 2-0 Coppa Italia win over Catania at the Tardini. That clean sheet will mean something to a side that shipped 46 goals last season — the defensive record coach Cuesta still has to fix. The Crociati have been grinding through pre-season at Collecchio and Pinzolo, and the sharpness showed against Catania. Matteo Pellegrino topped their scoring charts with nine league goals last term, and he's the kind of half-space runner who can knife through a back five if given a yard. Home advantage at the Tardini is real; this is a ground where Parma feed off the noise.

Cagliari also won their cup tie, edging Arezzo 1-0 at the Unipol Domus, but it was hardly a statement. They were missing Raphael Kofler and Riyad Idrissi through injury, and that back line looked a little scratchy against third-tier opposition. The Sardinians are a classic 3-5-2 outfit — wing-back dependent, happy to sit in a mid-block and hit on the break. But away from home, especially on the opening day, they tend to shrink. Recent form is thin, but the pattern is familiar: Cagliari struggle to impose themselves on the road against organised mid-table sides. Parma look the sharper, more settled unit right now.