There was a distinctly Oriental flavour to the Stadio Tardini this afternoon as Japanese internationals Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura faced off for the first time in Serie A, but it was Brazilian flair that won the match.

Reggina wasted a good early chance when Daniele Bonera let the ball run through, but Gianluca Savoldi was unable to take advantage.

It was an entertaining start and Parma had difficulty breaking through the attentive Reggina squad. On 15 minutes Bruno Cirillo gave the ball away and allowed Adrian Mutu to sprint forward, but fired straight at the goalkeeper.

Nakamura easily won the Nipponic battle as all Reggina's moves went through him, whereas Nakata seemed a little quiet throughout the first half.

The deadlock was eventually broken with a solo effort from Adriano. The Brazilian dribbled past three defenders and from a very tight angle thumped a powerful drive past the goalkeeper. Castellazzi was unlucky as the power of the shot stung his palms and went into the goal anyway.

Parma almost doubled their lead soon after with a Paolo Cannavaro free header onto the sidenetting and a confident save on Mutu.

Adriano made the points safe, but most of the credit must go to Mutu. The Romanian ran past Cirillo down the left flank and cut back for Adriano's powerful finish.