Serie A | Cagliari 2-0 Parma: Clinical Sardinians earn first victory

Cagliari were far more clinical than their opponents Parma, making the most of Yerry Mina and Matteo Felici tap-ins after the woodwork was rattled.

Both teams started the season with one point from two rounds, with the Sardinians missing injured Zito Luvumbo, Leonardo Pavoletti and Boris Radunovic, so Andrea Belotti made his debut upfront. The Ducali lost Hernani, Matija Frigan, Jacob Ondrejka and Nicolas Trabucchi, but Patrick Cutrone got his first start after coming off the bench to score the equaliser against Atalanta.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Elia Caprile needed an extraordinary double save after eight minutes, first on Mateo Pellegrino who had robbed Yerry Mina, then even more remarkably on the Cutrone follow-up.

Caprile was again forced into action by Cutrone’s angled drive after Adrian Bernabé intercepted a wayward midfield pass.

Instead, it was Cagliari who took the lead, as a corner was not cleared properly, Adam Obert’s cross to the back post found a Belotti header and weak Zion Suzuki reaction save, allowing Mina to nod in the rebound.

After the restart, Caprile palmed a deflected Abdoulaye Ndiaye header round the near post, while Gianluca Gaetano’s daisy-cutter skimmed the upright on a Sebastiano Esposito ball over the top.

Ndiaye also threw himself in the path of a Belotti strike, but Cutrone came so close with the glancing header inches wide of the far post.

The Bernabé left-foot curler also flashed just past the far top corner, but Gaetano Oristanio almost scored against his old club when controlling the Pontus Almqvist pull-back from the by-line and smashing the half-volley onto the bar from 12 yards.

Once again, Cagliari were more clinical and doubled their lead soon after that lucky let-off. Michel Adopo’s angled drive hit the inside of the far post after clipping Suzuki’s ankle, with Mattia Felici ready to turn in the rebound.

Cutrone had to ball in the net for Parma on 84 minutes, but only after a Mateo Pellegrino foul on Sebastiano Luperto.

Cagliari 2-0 Parma

Mina 33 (C), Felici 77 (C)