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An extraordinary 4-4 draw at the Olimpico saw Torino and Parma share eight goals and two crossbars.
Both teams were struggling to stay afloat, in particular Parma who had slipped into the bottom three despite holding Milan to a goalless draw last weekend. The Gialloblu had the worst away record in the top flight with just six goals scored on their travels and not a single win.
Cristiano Lucarelli faced his old club, as did Paolo Castellini, while Simone Barone, Vincenzo Grella and Alessandro Rosina were all ex-Parma men. Marco Motta and Daniele Dessena were suspended.
Toro took the lead at the first real attempt, as Marco Di Loreto's long pass allowed Roberto Stellone to spring the offside trap and blast a powerful finish past the helpless Luca Bucci. It was an extremely tight decision, but a correct one.
There were timid penalty appeals for a Zenoni handling offence on Stellone's cross, then Aimo Diana ran on to a Stellone assist to skim the upright with a right-foot effort.
Parma managed to draw level on the half-hour mark. McDonald Mariga did well to shrug Cesare Natali off the ball at the byeline and immediately roll back for Andrea Gasbarroni's first-time low strike into the near corner.
Incredibly, Gasbarroni turned the game around completely less than three minutes later. He had tested Matteo Sereni earlier with some free kicks, but curled this one perfectly into the near top corner as it dipped mercilessly over the defensive wall.
The shocks weren't over yet, as just before the break Stefano Morrone scored an absolutely stunning goal. A poor clearance fell to outside the D, where Morrone didn't hesitate for a spectacular right-foot volley into the top corner.
Torino were visibly stunned and less than 30 seconds later it was 4-1! Igor Budan sprung the offside trap and although Sereni got a hand to the lob, it looped over him and bounced its way into an empty net. The Gialloblu had scored four goals in a mad 14 minutes.
This crazy first half continued into stoppages, as the Granata hit back with Rosina's free kick looped into the six-yard box for a totally free Natali header.
After the restart Diana complained his cross was charged down in the box by an arm, but the referee waved play on. In a bid to jump over Giulio Falcone, Alessandro Rosina accidentally caught the defender's elbow with his studs and the Parma man was stretchered off in clear pain, but was able to continue after treatment.
Sereni got down well to parry Andrea Pisanu's angled drive, then soon after Mariga unleashed a rocket that cannoned off the upright. Mariga was Man of the Match for Parma, winning back possession repeatedly.
Torino tried to fight back with Alvaro Recoba, but curiously Parma introduced Bernardo Corradi rather than January signing Lucarelli.
The Granata got back into the game on 69 minutes with Stellone, the man who had started it all. A corner kick reached the tall centre-forward for a splendid volley with the inside of his left foot that bounced in front of Bucci.
The home side were pushing hard to complete an epic comeback, though Di Michele saw his chance to equalise charged down.
Di Michele got the 4-4 eight minutes from time with another fine finish. Sereni's goal kick was nodded on by Stellone and Di Michele did well to reach out a foot and flick it over a helpless Bucci!
It wasn't over yet, as Bucci had to rush outside his box to clear off the feet of a Torino striker, but in the final minute substitute Nicola Ventola's header from a Gianluca Comotto cross cannoned off the underside of the crossbar! Torino could not have come closer to a 5-4 victory when they had been 4-1 down in the first half.
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