Torino 1-3 Parma

Torino's poor home form continued as they were defeated 3-1 by Parma on Sunday afternoon, although they were forced to play most of the second half with ten men after Gianluca Sansone's controversial red card.

Matteo Darmian and Kamil Glik returned to the Toro defence, although Giampiero Ventura surprised many by leaving both Rolando Bianchi and Alessio Cerci on the bench. Gianluca Sansone was given a rare start, whilst Riccardo Meggiorini was given the central striker role.

And those changes looked as though they may finally solve Torino's home goalscoring problems in the early stages, as the Granata created three great chances in the opening ten minutes. Firstly a great through ball by Alen Stevanovic put full back Matteo Darmian through on goal, but his left footed shot hit the side netting.

Two minutes later, an ambitious volley from Riccardo Meggiorini almost caught out Parma's second choice keeper Nicola Pavarini, but the veteran reacted well to deny the former Bari striker. Torino should have taken the lead via Gianluca Sansone, but he somehow headed Stevanovic's cross over the bar.

After surviving the initial Granata onslaught, Parma came back into the game and former Juventus striker Amauri somehow blazed over the bar after excellent play by Jonathan Biabiany.

Toro began the second half in similar fashion to which they started the first, and once again Gianluca Sansone came close to opening his account for the club, but he was denied by Pavarini. However, the match turned on the 53rd minute when Torino were reduced to ten men after the lively Sansone received a second yellow card for simulation.

Whilst Gabriel Paletta's challenge on the former Sassuolo striker was probably not worthy of a penalty, there was certainly contact between the two players.Therefore the decision to send Sansone off (who didn't even appeal for a spot kick) was an extremely harsh decision by referee Piero Giacomelli.

Torino's ten men held out for twenty minutes, but Parma finally got the breakthrough after substitute Nicola Sansone (no relation) fired a fierce left footed shot past Jean-Francois Gillet. And with Toro still recovering from that goal, Parma doubled their lead one minute later when Amauri headed home an inch-perfect cross from Marco Marchionni.

The away side still had time to score a third goal as some hesitant defending from the normally reliable Matteo Darmian allowed Biabiany to cross for Aleandro Rosi to tap home from close range. With the last kick of the game, Torino did get a consolation goal as substitutes Alessio Cerci and Migen Basha combined to allow the latter to volley home from six yards - Toro's first goal at the Stadio Olimpico for 388 minutes.

This result was certainly a disappointment as Torino's poor home form continues, but the match was undoubtedly changed by the referee's controversial decision to dismiss Gianluca Sansone with the score at 0-0. With two difficult away games on the horizon (against Lazio and Napoli) the Granata could find themselves in the relegation zone this time next week, almost unthinkable after their bright start.

Forza Torino