Parma and Sassuolo meet on Sunday at the Tardini for the first time there since 2021, with both clubs using the final stretch of the season to chase a result that could say as much about the future as the present. Parma want a victory to finish on a high note. Sassuolo want one to reach 50 points and keep alive their push for a top-ten place.
The match also puts two coaches under the same spotlight. Fabio Grosso, closing out a two-year period at Sassuolo, said his time there was amazing. Carlos Cuesta, Parma’s very young coach, is in a different but equally uncertain place, even though both men have contracts until 2027. Sunday could be their last game in their current posts.
That is what gives this meeting more weight than a simple late-season fixture. Sassuolo came back up last season and have already secured safety for more than a month, so the standings now reflect ambition rather than survival. Parma’s current place suggests results rather than entertainment, and that divide has fed criticism from part of the club’s own public over Cuesta’s pragmatic style of play.
The coaching market has already started to move around the match. Grosso has been sought after by Fiorentina and Bologna, and he could also hear from Rome if Maurizio Sarri leaves Lazio. Parma’s management, meanwhile, appears ready to let Cuesta go. That leaves two clubs, two coaches and two contracts that run to 2027 headed toward a Sunday that may still end as a farewell.
Names are already being floated for what comes next, with Ignazio Abate and Alberto Aquilani mentioned as possible replacements for both benches. For now, though, the immediate issue is simple: Parma want to close at home with a win, and Sassuolo want the points that would push their season into a more satisfying shape. The standings can change only so much in one match. The sense that this one could mark a turning point is harder to escape.
