Connoisseurs of action-packed football will be looking forward to Bologna’s Sunday visit to the Diego Armando Maradona to meet Serie A pacesetters Napoli. There’s a substantial gulf in class and form between the two sides, but there’s no way the visitors will roll over in southern Italy.
Napoli yet again proved they are one of the most in-form sides in Europe’s top-five leagues in midweek Champions League action. Luciano Spalletti’s team cruised to a landslide 4-2 home victory over Ajax to maintain their 100% record in Group A and seal progression into the competition’s knockout stages for the first time in the club’s history.
Speaking of the record books, Napoli head into proceedings on the back of a club-record nine-game winning streak, the longest victorious run Napoli have ever put together in a single season! So it’s not strange the Partenopei join this round as the Serie A leaders, albeit they’ve just two points clear of second-placed Atalanta.
It’s been a while since the Naples faithful had such high hopes for the long-awaited Scudetto. Though visiting Bologna have opposing ambitions for this season, the visitors will be equally keen to get a positive result at the Maradona as Thiago Motta seeks his first victory in charge of the Rossoblu.
Motta, who replaced Sinisa Mihajlovic in the dugout on the eve of September’s international break, has amassed just one point from his opening three managerial matches at the helm of Bologna (D1, L2). With only two points separating the visiting side from 18th-placed Hellas Verona, another slip-up, combined with Verona’s potential success, would demote them to the relegation zone.
Match Preview
Napoli
It’s been a blistering Serie A start for Napoli, who remain one of just two teams in the Italian top flight yet to lose a single league match this season (W7, D2). Moreover, only defending champions Milan (64) have picked up more Seire A points than the Partenopei (63) since the calendar year flipped to 2022. That probably best illustrates the level of consistency Spalletti’s men have achieved.
Napoli should be sailing to another clear-cut triumph, considering they’ve claimed seven wins across their last nine Serie A home games against Bologna (L2). They thumped the Rossoblu 3-0 in this corresponding fixture in 2021/22, and it’s hard to put it past them to register another ‘goal-friendly’ success on Sunday.
Indeed, Spalletti’s high-flyers have netted at least three goals in three of their last four home outings across all competitions, including a 3-1 beating of Torino in their most recent Serie A encounter at the Maradona. Spalletti may want to tighten up defensively after seeing them keep just one clean sheet across their last six league matches.
Bologna
Motta’s managerial career at Bologna had started with back-to-back scoring blanks in Serie A. However, a 1-1 home draw with fellow bottom-half strugglers Sampdoria last time out ended their goal drought in the Italian top division, offering visiting fans a glimmer of hope their side could reignite their stuttering league campaign.
Despite being deemed massive pre-match underdogs, Bologna will put their fate in Motta’s hands, knowing their head coach is unbeaten in both managerial fixtures at Napoli (W1, D1). But the Rossoblu will have to perform out of their skins if they’re to hold Spalletti’s team at bay at the Maradona.
That looks a bit far-fetched, considering they’ve yet to register a shutout after the opening nine Serie A rounds. Scoring has been another problem for Bologna this season, as they’ve averaged just 0.88 goals per league game thus far. On top of that, they have found the net once in their last two top-flight visits to Napoli (L1).
Napoli vs Bologna Potential Line-ups
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leo Ostigard, Kim Min-jae, Mario Rui; Tanguy Ndombele, Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski; Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Bologna (4-2-3-1): Lucasz Skorupski; Stefan Posch, Adama Soumaro, Jhon Lucumi, Andrea Cambiaso; Gary Medel, Jerdy Schouten; Riccardo Orsolini, Soriano, Nicola Sansone; Joshua Zirkzee.