Cagliari left Parma with three points and a clean sheet, the margin delivered by a single goal from midfielder Alessandro Romano eleven minutes from time — a result that was settled not by sustained dominance but by a decisive intervention in a match that had resisted scoring for more than an hour.
The clearest passage of play that shaped the outcome came in the 66th minute, when Cagliari coach Fabio Pisacane made a triple substitution: Mattia Felici replaced the booked Jacopo Fazzini, Gennaro Borrelli came on for Paul Mendy, and Gabriele Zappa entered for Zé Pedro, who had collected a yellow card as early as the tenth minute. The reshuffle was significant. Fazzini had been cautioned in the 58th minute, and carrying two bookings into the final quarter of the match would have been a liability; removing him and restructuring the shape allowed Cagliari to manage the closing stages with greater security. Parma coach Carlos Cuesta García responded simultaneously, introducing Pontus Almqvist for Adrián Bernabé, but the initiative had shifted.
The goal arrived in the 79th minute. Romano, who had been part of Cagliari's midfield structure throughout, converted with the assist credited to Michel Adopo — a combination between two central midfielders that bypassed the Parma defensive block and produced the only moment of the match that will be remembered. Romano's rating of 6.9 placed him among Cagliari's top performers.
Parma's best performers on the night were actually on the losing side. Christian Ordoñez and Simone Lontani, both Parma players, each earned a 7.2 rating — the highest of any individual in the match — yet the home side finished without a goal. Lontani was withdrawn at the 75th minute, and Ordoñez played 61 minutes before the substitution wave reshaped the Parma attack. The ratings suggest Cuesta García's side were not passive, but the data offers no evidence that they created the chances to match their individual contributions. Goalkeeper Edoardo Corvi's 7.0 rating hints at a performance that required him to be present, though the match events record no specific saves. What is clear is that Parma's five substitutions, spread across the 66th and 75th and 85th minutes, reflected an attempt to find a solution that never materialised.
The form context sharpens the significance of this result. Cagliari arrive in Serie A having won both of their competitive matches this season — a 1-0 home win against Arezzo in the Coppa Italia and now this away victory — keeping a clean sheet in each. Pisacane's side have conceded nothing across those two fixtures, which speaks to an early-season defensive organisation that is at least consistent. Parma, by contrast, opened their league campaign with a defeat having beaten Catania 2-0 in the Coppa Italia a week earlier; the transition from cup to league has not been smooth, and Cuesta García's side now carry the weight of an opening-day loss into the weeks ahead.
Cagliari's Alessandro Romano scored the only goal of a match Parma could not unlock, and Pisacane's side head into the season with the kind of momentum that opening weekends rarely guarantee.