Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano, Marco Delvecchio, Damiano Tommasi, Marcos Cafu, Jonathan Zebina and Luigi Sartor were ruled out, so Pep Guardiola got a rare start.

The first chance fell to the visitors as Sebastien Frey was tested by a Vincenzo Montella free header on five minutes.

Parma were without Adriano, but his substitute Emiliano Bonazzoli made sure he wasn't missed as he broke the deadlock on 11 minutes. The Under-21 international sprung the offside trap on Adrian Mutu's through ball to slide an angled drive past Francesco Antonioli.

The Gialloblu continued to push and there will be more controversy on refereeing decisions as Pierluigi Collina pointed to the spot for an Aldair shirt-tug on Bonazzoli. Adrian Mutu stepped up to convert the penalty and double Parma's lead.

Roma tried to fight back and Frey did well to turn Walter Samuel's header out for a corner kick, while Emerson clipped the crossbar with another nodded effort.

Fabio Capello had to attack to overturn this result and threw on former Palermo winger Davide Bombardini and ex-Parma hero Diego Fuser.

Fuser almost got Roma back into the game three minutes after stepping onto the field, but Frey made another incredible save on his volley.

The Giallorossi injury crisis deepened when Aldair limped off to give youth squad player Ferronetti his debut.

Antonioli excelled himself with a splendid save on Mutu's free kick, but the third Parma goal arrived soon after.

The Roma defence was weakened and Bonazzoli was allowed a free header by the far post to nod in a corner kick.

Parma could, in fact, have won by a wider scoreline as Mutu and Mark Bresciano had good chances.