Parma are expected to line up in their usual 4-3-3, with Corvi between the posts, and the shape tells you everything about intent. Cuesta wants width, he wants the full-backs high, and he wants the front three pinning Genoa's back three deep. The risk is obvious: a 4-3-3 against a 3-5-2 can leave the midfield outnumbered if the wide forwards do not track the wing-backs. Genoa will look to overload the centre and spring the wing-backs into the space behind Parma's advanced full-backs. That is the trap.

Genoa's 3-5-2, as seen against Frosinone with Bijlow, Marcandalli, Oestigard, Vasquez, Ehizibue, Frendrup, Baldanzi, Sow, Ellertsson, Colombo and Osmajic, is a double-pivot-plus-one midfield that can smother central lanes. Frendrup and Sow give them legs and bite; Baldanzi is the creator who drifts into half-spaces and makes things happen. The brief flags Baldanzi as a shot threat, and that fits: he will find pockets between Parma's midfield and defence. Up top, Colombo and Osmajic offer a physical focal point and a runner, which is a handful for a back four that can get stretched.

The game state likely settles into Parma pressing and probing, Genoa absorbing and countering. Set-pieces could be decisive — Genoa's height in that back three and the presence of Vasquez and Osmajic makes them a genuine threat from dead balls, while Parma's smaller, quicker front line prefers the ball on the deck. If Parma score first, the Tardini lifts and Genoa have to come out; if Genoa score first, the hosts' three-year hoodoo starts whispering.