An incredible outcome at the Ezio Scida Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Crotone squandered a two-goal lead to see Bologna prevail 3-2 in the second match of Serie A Round 28. With ten games to go, Sinisa Mihajlovic’s visitor Rossoblu can consider themselves almost safe with 34 points, while the Calabresi will need a miracle to keep hoping as today’s wasted chance will surely take a toll on their morale.
Bologna traveled to Calabria with the idea of building up on their convincing win against Sampdoria from one week ago but their approach to the game seemed careless and resulted in a two-goal deficit before referee Francesco Fourneau could blow for half time.
Serse Cosmi’s Crotone, on the other hand, were in for a second home win in a row after smashing Torino in their last encounter at the Ezio Scida. Their plan work perfectly for at least 45 minutes, during which the Pitagorici took the lead from a Junior Messias free kick and made it two as Simy Nwankwo drilled a penalty shot past Lukasz Skorupski on 40 minutes.
? #SerieA | #MatchDay28
— FC Crotone (@FcCrotoneOff) March 20, 2021
⏰ 15:00
? Stadio Ezio Scida
⚽️ #CrotoneBologna #StartingXI#WeAreSharks ???
Segui la diretta testuale su ? https://t.co/CkZjIpR3br pic.twitter.com/xSoN1sc9zk
Knowing Sinisa Mihajlovic, one can easily imagine what he must have said to his boys in the locker room after such a sloppy first half. And indeed, Bologna’s approach after the restart was completely different. The Rossoblu‘s change of pace resulted in Bologna reducing the gap on 57 minutes, as Emmanuel Vignato whipped the ball for Rodrigo Palacio and the Argentine served Adama Soumaoro an easy chance to find the back of the net.
The French-Malian defender thus redeemed himself after causing the penalty from which Crotone had scored their second in the first half.
Eight minutes later, it was Jerdy Schouten to equalize for the visitors with a beautiful right foot curl that found the right spot to the left of goalkeeper Alex Cordaz.
With the match now open and the two coaches wanting to go for the three points, chances rained from both sides: On 75 minutes, Lukasz Skorupski denied Junior Messias and, immediately after, Milos Vulic shot the ball into the empty stands of the Scida Stadium from a favorable position. For Bologna, Nicola Sansone and Andreas Skov Olsen wasted two counterattacks.
First goals in Serie A for both #Soumaoro and #Schouten ?❤️#CrotoneBologna #WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/00wVeaqyX1
— Bologna FC 1909 (@BolognaFC1909en) March 20, 2021
Bologna’s comeback, however, was completed on 84 minutes as Skov Olsen managed to tap the ball in from a Cordaz save on a Rodrigo Palacio shot. Crotone should also have had their third with Emmanuel Riviere, but the Frechman’s effort was disallowed on grounds of offside.
It ended with Bologna celebrating an almost virtual safety – Mihajlovic’s side are 12 points clear of the drop zone with 10 games to go – and Crotone asking themselves how on earth they managed to remain empty handed after dominating for 45 minutes. Their possibility for a permanence in Serie A are getting dimmer and dimmer.
MATCH REPORT
March 20, 2021 – Serie A 2020-2021 Round 28
CROTONE-BOLOGNA 2-3
SCORERS: 32′ Messias (C), 40′ Simy (C, pen.), 62′ Soumaoro (B), 70′ Schouten (B), 84′ Skov Olsen (B)
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CROTONE (3-4-3): Cordaz; Djidji, Golemic, Cuomo (86′ Riviere); Pedro Pereira, Benali, Petriccione (75′ Vulic), Molina; Messias, Simy, Di Carmine (75′ Rispoli) (Festa, Crespi, Magallan, Marrone, D’Aprile, Henrique, Zanellato, Rojas, Dragus) Coach: Cosmi |
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BOLOGNA (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; Tomiyasu, Soumaoro, Danilo, Dijks (59′ Vignato); Svanberg (46′ Schouten), Dominguez (59′ Sansone); Orsolini (46′ Skov Olsen), Soriano, Barrow; Palacio (86′ Poli) (Da Costa, Antov, De Silvestri, Hickey, Mbaye, Medel, Baldursson) Coach: Mihajlovic |
REFEREE: Mr. Fourneau from Rome
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Cuomo, Petriccione, Djidji, Golemic (C), Dijks, Soumaoro, Dominguez, Palacio, Soriano, Danilo, Skorupski (B)