"Crespo is maturing all the time and I'm not talking about questions of technique but rather about the fact that he has matured as a man, he feels that he has to assume much more responsibility in this side, he feels that he is very important to the team. Remember, he arrived here as a young player but now, after three seasons' experience, he has grown a lot . . . "
That assessment of Parma's Argentine striker Hernan Crespo was offered by Parma coach Alberto Malesani just before Christmas and his words came to mind when watching Crespo last Sunday.
We were two minutes into injury time in the top-of-the-table clash between Parma and Juventus. The match was all over, bar the shouting and bar Crespo. Parma were one goal and two men down, following a penalty scored by Juventus ace Alessandro Del Piero and following the sendings-off of Parma defender Stefano Torrisi and Parma midfielder Dino Baggio.
It was then that Crespo got on the end of seeming nothing ball from Belgian team-mate Johan Walem. He was on his own, admittedly in space, but still 45 yards out from goal and with three defenders between him and Juventus goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar.
The Argentine looked up, before setting sail down the left wing. Juventus defenders Ciro Ferrara and Mark Iuliano backed off. Crespo slowed down and then, whoom, suddenly he hit overdrive with a feint and a swerve which left Ferrara on his bottom and which took him to the byeline. Then, at full throttle and despite the attentions of Iuliano, he slotted home a brilliant goal from the narrowest of angles. 1-1.
This was a match that had told us two things, loud and clear. Namely that Juventus are the best Italian team of the moment. Secondly that Hernan Crespo is the best striker in Italian soccer at the moment, and not just because he leads the goalscorer's chart on 12 goals.
Despite a more than respectable goal haul of 12-12-16 in his first three seasons since joining Parma from River Plate back in the summer of 1996, Crespo has not always convinced everyone.
Despite his obvious pace, his positional sense, his ability in the air and his ability to play off either foot, Crespo took some time to adapt to Italian soccer. His curly hair, his good looks and his initial inexperience all tempted some observers to dismiss him. One man, however, who flowed against the tide and fought a series of mini-battles to have him stay at Parma was their former coach, Carlo Ancelotti, currently coach to Juventus: "There's no secret about my admiration for Crespo. After I got to know him at Parma, I rated him among the best in the world, full stop," Ancelotti said last season. Ancelotti may not have enjoyed seeing his high opinion confirmed quite so painfully on Sunday. Last summer, furthermore, Ancelotti backed his opinion with his money by trying to buy Crespo for Juventus. Having sold other important players such as Argentines Juan Veron and Nestor Sensini as well as striker Enrico Chiesa, however, Parma were in no mood to release Crespo.
Which is just as well since Crespo has been a key factor in a season in which Parma have had to overcome a disastrous start when eliminated from the qualifying round of the Champions League by Glasgow Rangers. Now back in business, Parma's draw with Juventus saw them continue a league run in which they have picked up 29 points in their last 12 games to go third, three points behind leaders Lazio.
In Europe, too, Parma are back on course, and are due to meet German side Werder Bremen in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.
Leading goalscorer Crespo admits to some satisfaction at his form but argues that the club's recent progress is obviously more important, explaining: "As a striker, you always want to score goals but that is not the primary objective. The main objective is to win the league title and if I pick up the leading goalscorer's award as well, so much the better . . . "
Parma, of course, are one of the success stories of the '90s, a relatively small club that arrived in Serie A for the first time only in 1990 but which went on to immediately establish itself in the European elite by winning two UEFA Cups and one Cup Winners' Cup in the following decade. Can Parma now clinch the one, all-important title that has so far eluded it, namely the infamous "scudetto"?
"God Willing, God Willing. We're certainly trying but it's very difficult to win a first title, it's harder the first time . . . What is also true is that the Italian Championship is like the NBA, it's simply the best league in the world. Every side in the league can make life difficult for you, every side comes out ready to fight," says Crespo.
If Parma do win the title this year, Crespo will have had a large say in their success.
Paddy Agnew can be contacted at pagnew@aconet.it
