On the face of it, watching Parma vs Juventus on a Wednesday afternoon where there are more important things to be doing wouldn't exactly appeal to many fans of English football.
But I'm glad I opted to finally order ESPN just to watch it.
The game had everything. Vociferous home support, an early goal, great saves, a come back, a red card, injuries, tackles and two sides separated heartbreakingly for Parma, by an own goal.
It was also contested by two sides consisting of numerous Italians on both sides, who knew exactly what the game meant to both sets of fans.
After seeing a game contested in the Premiership with no English players or managers on show, it was refreshing to see a game where the desire was clear to see in the Parma side and an equally dogged display by a Juventus side whose manager is under great pressure.
The respect for the club legend Ferrara is something which would be nice to see more often in England, as a pose to the merciless recruitment of foreign managers and players.
Pressure
Juventus went into the game with a robust looking side, which was very much in the ilk of their under pressure manager and club legend Ciro Ferrara. Despite seeing his side sit second in the league, crashing out of the Champions League and a 9 point gap to leaders Internazionale meant the Italian manager was feeling the heat.
The talk before the game was that should the Old Lady lose today’s game, Ferrara's brief tenure as manager of the famous Turin club would be bought to an abrupt end.
Parma on the other hand were riding the crest of a wave, sitting in sixth place and having a genuine opportunity to knock off one of the leagues big boys.
But much like in recent English Premier League fixture, the pretender's Champions League aspirations tend to get stubbed out by their more illustrious opposition.
And it didn’t take long today.
In the third minute, a scrappy corner routine left Hasan Salihamidzic unmarked inside the six yard box to give Juventus a 1-0 lead.
From then on, the game was all Parma. They had opted to leave Valeri Bojinov on the bench to partner former Juventus man Nicola Amoruso with Jonathan Biabiany up front, and it was the on loan 24 year old who bought the first save off the match out of Alex Manninger, who was filling in for the injured Gianluigi Buffon.
As well as missing Buffon, Juve were also without the suspended Fabio Cannavaro and there were no starting places for the creative trio of Alessandro Del Piero, Amauri or Sebastien Giovinco.
Amauri appeared earlier than expected, at the expense of top scorer David Trezeguet who left the game with an injury, but his introduction didn't increase the goal threat posed by Juventus. So it was no surprise when hard working Parma's industry produced an equaliser.
The pressure told after 24 minutes, when an accurate cross by Damiano Zenoni found Amoruso, and the 35 year old directed a clinical header past Manninger.
It was no more then Parma deserved, and when Amoruse stung Manninger's hands with a dipping 25 yard half volley, it looked like there would only be one side leaving with three points.
But as is often the way, the big clubs find a way to gain wins there performance hardly merits.
When a corner came in which posed little threat, the unfortunate Paolo Castellini contrived to head into his own goal and break Parma hearts going into half time.
The second half became a battle which only added to the excitement. In a throwback to the early 90s in England, the game was highly contested with challenges flying in on an extremely difficult looking pitch.
Make shift Juventus right back Martin Caceres had looked uncomfortable all game, and after being booked in the first half dived in again with 20 minutes to go and was sent to the stand.
This responded an understandable response from Ferrara, who bought on two defenders with goal scorer Salihamidzic and playmaker Diego the ones to make way.
Parma piled on the pressure from then on, but Juventus showed all the savvy you would expect from one of the world's most illustrious clubs. Not even six minutes of injury time and the Parma keeper coming up for a corner was enough for Parma to produce an equaliser their efforts deserved.
The game was a breath of fresh air, the under dogs pushing the big boys all the way to the 96th minute despite a difference in quality.
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