A big sigh of relief for Sinisa Mihajlovic, whose Bologna side finally broke a non-winning streak that lasted since November 29 as they toppled Verona on Saturday afternoon with a Riccardo Orsolini penalty.
Mihajlovic recovered his starting goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski after an injury and that really made the difference as the Polish shot-stopper denied Verona’s most favorable chance to equalize with a fine stop on Nikola Kalinic.
On top of that, Bologna’s Serbian coach decided to leave Rodrigo Palacio on the bench and deploy Musa Barrow as lone striker, supported from behind by Riccardo Orsolini, Roberto Soriano, and Emanuel Vignato.
For the visitor Scaligeri, Ivan Juric missed Adrian Tameze in midfield and was replaced by Darko Lazovic in the middle on the park. The coach confirmed his usual offensive setup with Antonin Barak and Mattia Zaccagni supporting striker Kalinic.
? LINE-UP ?
— Bologna FC 1909 (@BolognaFC1909en) January 16, 2021
Our starting XI for #BolognaVerona ??#WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/BcEmy5ANa7
Riccardo Orsolini began his duel with Verona’s goalkeeper Marco Silvestri early in the game as he drew his first save on 16 minutes. The goalie pushed Soriano down in the box to prevent him from tapping the ball in, and referee Maurizio Mariani pointed at the penalty spot. Orsolini made no mistake, despite Silvestri reportedly taunting him before his shot: “You’re never going to make it.“
It was the goal that put the Rossoblu ahead and the score wouldn’t change anymore. After the restart, there were chances for both sides but the two goalkeepers stole the spotlight to prevent anyone else from making it to the scoresheet.
Lukasz Skorupski saved from Mattia Zaccagni, while Marco Silvestri sprung to his right to defuse another scoring attempt from Orsolini. Verona’s best chance came when Kalinic saw the ball bouncing into his feet after an extended exchange into Bologna’s box and went one-on-one with Skorupski, but the Pole was stone-cold and pushed back his close-range shot.
Bologna should have had their second late in the game, but Silvestri came up with a super save to deny Mattias Svanberg’s header. Fair enough. One goal was all the Rossoblu needed to break their curse and reach Sampdoria in the 11th place of the table.
For Verona, on the other hand, this is the first loss out of four games and an unexpected stop right when they were starting to chase a Europa League spot.
Orsolini scores the penalty kick, @BolognaFC1909en wins the match. ?#BolognaVerona #SerieATIM #WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/ULhg4I7gkg
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) January 16, 2021
MATCH REPORT
January 16, 2021 – Serie A 2020-21 Round 18
BOLOGNA-VERONA 1-0
SCORER: 18′ Orsolini pen.
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BOLOGNA (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; De Silvestri, Danilo, Tomiyasu, Dijks; Schouten, Dominguez (75′ Svanberg); Orsolini (75′ Skov Olsen), Soriano, Vignato (85′ Sansone); Barrow (75′ Palacio) (Da Costa, Breza, Soumaoro, Paz, Hickney, Baldursson, Michael, Poli) Coach: Mihajlovic |
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VERONA (3-4-2-1): Silvestri; Magnani, Gunter, Dimarco (73′ Colley); Faraoni, Dawidowicz (89′ Bessa), Ilic, Lazovic; Barak, Zaccagni; Kalinic (69′ Di Carmine) (Berardi, Pandur, Udogie, Amione, Cetin, Lovato, Ruegg, Danzi, Salcedo) Coach: Juric |
REFEREE: Mr. Mariani from Aprilia
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Dijks, Dominguez (B), Zaccagni (V)