This local derby has never been played in Serie A before and both teams went into it flying high in the League standings.

All eyes were on Modena hitman Giuseppe Sculli following his fine form at both club and Under-21 international level. Adrian Mutu recovered from an injury problem to start this long-awaited encounter.

Parma had the first opportunity with an absolute missile from Adriano that rattled the crossbar, but goalkeeper Marco Ballotta made a desperate reaction save on Matteo Brighi's follow-up.

The veteran goalkeeper made another fantastic save on Adriano's powerful free kick from 25 metres, while Hidetoshi Nakata's lob dipped over the bar.

Sebastien Frey was also called into a difficult save on 34 minutes when he was forced to nod the ball off Mauri's head just outside the penalty area.

The deadlock was eventually broken just before the break when Adrian Mutu blasted home from the edge of the box after a poor Leonardo Colucci clearance.

Adriano could have doubled Parma's lead soon after, but his counter-attack was stopped by a magnificent Mauro Mayer challenge.

Modena were looking for a result and threw on forwards Andrea Fabbrini and Dioumansy Kamara' for the second half.

However, it was Parma who could have had a second when Filippini sprung the offside trap and tried to tap in from the byline, but Cevoli got back to clear off the line.

That intervention proved decisive as Modena drew level soon after. The Parma defence failed to clear effectively and substitute Fabbrini turned in a Kamara' centre from close range.

Adriano continued his personal battle with Ballotta as the veteran tipped another incredible free kick from 30 metres over the bar.

Just six minutes from time Modena snatched the winner with another of their half-time substitutes. Frenchman Kamara' drilled an unstoppable low drive into the very near corner of the net from a good 25 metres.