Parma, 28 December 2023 - The focus is on A, A for Ascoli. This was the message from Fabio Pecchia after victory over Brescia, thanks to two outstanding goals from Bernabé and Man. “We'll have a few days' downtime and then come back fired up ready than ever for a second half of the season that will be very tough,” said the Head Coach. 

The league campaign gets back underway on Sunday 14 January, at the stadio Tardini, in search for another record. But with the title of winter champions for the first time in Serie B in the Club's history, it is right we look back on the previous 19 fixtures in this first half of the season of records, and a calendar year that (Cagliari aside) has given strong emotions to the Gialloblù faithful.

In the year we celebrated the 110th anniversary since our foundation, Parma Calcio became winter champions for the first time and, staying on the subject of records, have earned 41 points at the season's halfway point, something that has never happened before: only eight teams, in the three-points-for-a-win era (from 94/95) have achieved this feat, with only Mantova (05/06) failing to go on and achieve promotion.

Another record: 75 points won from January to December, an mindblowing 2023. Behind us are Venezia (64) and Como (60). With 22 victories in the regular season in 12 months, Fabio Pecchia's team has made another record: twelve in the current campaign and ten in the second part of last season. Nobody has done better.

Parma have ended this first half of the season with 41 points, better than anyone else, thanks to the best league attack (37 goals), ahead of Palermo (32) and Venezia (31), and the second best defencee (17 goals conceded), behind only Cremonese (16). Pecchia's Verona, in the 16/17 season also achieved 41 points, (from 21 games though), three points more than Frosinone, who were second. Now, we are six ahead of Venezia and Como.

The strength of a collective that wants to improve and believes in the daily work, built on day after day, match after match, can also be seen from the general performance tables. It demonstrates consistency that makes the fans proud: the Gialloblù are third in the rankings for shots on target (94), behind Palermo (101) and Cremonese (98), but are second in 'shooting accuracy'; with 50.27%, only Catanzaro have managed to do better than Parma in this special ranking with 57.33%. Palermo is third with 49.51%, while Cremonese are outside the Top 10. Even in the ranking of 'touches in the opponent's area', Pecchia's boys stand out: second place with 501 touches, behind Cremonese's 505 and ahead of Palermo, who complete the podium with 497. Ninth place, however, in the total goal attempts ranking could seem like a disappointment with 252 shots towards the opponent's goal. Instead, it is the testimony of the team's lethal finishing in the final 16 metres. In first place is Cremonese with 340 and in second place is Spezia with 277.

They are stats that saw the fans go wild with joy at the Rigamonti in Brescia at the final whistle. The 948 Giallblù supporters celebrated with the lads at the away end: it was a moment of immense joy, shared and strongly desired. But, we must now turn the page, as the A of Ascoli and Serie A are already in focus. And Parma wants to come back more energised and stronger than before to defend its lead.