Benjamin Cremaschi, the 21-year-old Parma midfielder, was on the losing side as his team fell 2-3 to Roma at the Tardini on Sunday, a result that arrived via a penalty awarded in the 101st minute and converted by Donyell Malen to complete a Roma comeback.
For Cremaschi, the defeat lands in a season already defined by scarcity. Eight appearances, no goals, no assists, and an average rating of 6.50 tell the story of a player still finding his footing in Serie A rather than shaping it. His AI overall score of 60 out of a possible 100 — with a potential ceiling of 72 — suggests the raw material is there, but the current output sits well short of what that ceiling implies. At 21, the margin for development is real. The urgency, though, is also real.
Parma head coach Carlos Cuesta García did not hide his frustration after the final whistle. Cuesta fumed publicly, arguing his side had been disrespected and that the officiating had denied them a fair result — pointing specifically to a Mancini handball, the penalty that settled the match, and what he described as a foul incorrectly called against his own players in a dangerous attacking position. "Parma merita rispetto, tutta Italia ha visto quello che hanno fatto," he said. The referee, Chiffi, was called to the monitor for an on-field review before awarding the decisive penalty for a Britschgi foul on a Roma defender, a decision subsequently defended on technical grounds.
Whether or not the officiating was as tilted as Cuesta insists, the underlying numbers for Parma are harder to argue with. Thirteenth in Serie A with 42 points from 36 matches — ten wins, twelve draws, fourteen defeats — the club has conceded 45 goals against 27 scored. That defensive fragility, not a late penalty, is the structural problem. Cremaschi operates in a midfield asked to cover for a backline that leaks.
His personal contribution this season has been limited enough that the Roma defeat is not, in any meaningful sense, a story about him specifically. It is a story about the environment around him: a team that leads matches and then concedes in stoppage time, a coach who fights for his players in public, and a 21-year-old with a 72-point potential ceiling who has eight Serie A appearances to show for the campaign.
Cuesta's anger after the Tardini suggests belief in this group. Whether Cremaschi earns a larger role in what remains of the season — and whether Parma can hold a lead long enough to make that role matter — is the question the final weeks will answer.