Rueters
Thursday, October 26, 2000; 3:11 PM

PARMA, Italy, Oct 26 – Brazilian striker Marcio Amoroso came off the bench to hand Parma a 2-0 victory over Dynamo Zagreb in the UEFA Cup on Thursday and give his coach Alberto Malesani some breathing space.

Malesani has been under intense pressure following Parma's poor start to the league season which included a 3-1 defeat at Perugia at the weekend.

But Amoroso's goals in the 61st and 78th minutes unlocked a hard-fought second round first leg match and gave Parma the upper hand ahead of the return tie in Croatia.

The Brazilian came on in the 21st minute when fellow striker Marco Di Vaio limped off with a thigh injury.

With an hour gone he turned brilliantly inside his marker Goce Sedloski on the edge of the box and fired in a shot.

Goalkeeper Tomislav Butina took the sting out of the effort but the ball bounced under his body and found its way into the right hand side of his goal.

With 12 minutes to play Amoroso rose to meet a cross from Antonio Benarrivo and planted a firm header into the same corner of the net for 2-0.

His job done, the Brazilian promptly asked Malesani to substitute him. Frenchman Alain Boghossian came on in his place.

"In a situation like this it's only natural that there was a bit of tension," Malesani said. "We played quite well in some phases of the match, not so well in others."

Parma's victory was their 12th in a row in Europe at their Tardini stadium. They are unbeaten in their last 28 European matches at home in a remarkable run dating back to January 1994.