After closing the regular season as runners-up of the group and after defeating Juventus in the round of last-16, the black-and-blue Under 16’s season came to its close in the double-fixture against Parma in the quarterfinals, with a spot in the semi-final within grasps. After Giovanni Bosi was appointed coach of the Primavera in early May, Matteo Parma, Bosi’s number two, took the helm of the team. “First and foremost, I wish to thank both the Club, for their utmost trust in me, and Giovanni for his invaluable work. Being appointed first coach has been both a great opportunity and a challenging new endeavour for me: of course, when it comes to tracing the final balance, the season’s ending was quite a sting in the tail – all in all, we’ve been hit-and-miss at times. Nonetheless, this was a year of growth for all our lads, who improved their game in leaps and bounds. I cannot help but sing their praises: they make up a great company, ready to take on new challenges”.

“I think our shortcut to the Final Phase best summarizes the team’s solid performances in the league throughout the season and how we dodged the playoffs: since this is no mean feat, credit is due to both coach Bosi and the lads. From a general perspective, I think all players – both those who had accrued more playing time and the ones that, despite having a more marginal role, always gave their best in training- went through a general improvement. Although the outcome of the quarter-finals was not as we had wished, I can’t help but state a positive review of the season: we take great pride in the stance and the approach we adopted in the round of last-16 against Juventus; especially in how we got past such hurdle. Alas, sticking to the same blueprint of the 1st-leg match against Juve (also in terms of slip-ups) eventually took its toll in the round against Parma. Despite the disappointment, that’s football, and the lads will put it down to experience: sometimes even frustrating experiences could be cherished as food for thoughts and fertile ground for learning new things that will find them in good stead for future challenges laying ahead in life”.

At the beginning of May, Parma took up Bosi’s baton at the helm of the black-and-blue side: “Having worked side by side with Giovanni throughout the whole season, as I did nothing but carrying on what we did together, I kept asking for his advice despite his ad-interim tenure for Primavera. Since I got many helping hands from my other fellow coaches, I also wish to tender my acknowledgement and gratitude”