New Parma youth coach Cristiano Lucarelli is enjoying retirement.

The former Livorno and Napoli striker hung up his boots over the summer and followed Pippo Inzaghi's footsteps.

"The result was beyond my greatest expectations. I always debut with a goal, so it was wonderful to start my coaching career with a victory too," he told Radio CRC.

"I learned a great deal from Mazzarri and he inspired me. In fact, I told him that I'll be the first member of a new school of management in the Mazzarri mould!

"In the last two years, I watched training sessions not so much with the eyes of a player, but rather those of an aspiring Coach.

"Thanks to Mazzarri I started understanding and studying tactics in football and can only thank him, as he opened up to me a world I had never considered."