The first Emilian derby of the Serie A season saw Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Bologna crush Parma 4-1 with a shimmering performance from Roberto Soriano. The 29-year-old midfielder bagged a brace and provided one assist to help the Rossoblu bounce back from their debut loss to Milan and put the Crociati in trouble as they collected their second defeat in a row.
Mihajlovic made two changes versus his Serie A opener, deploying 18-year-old talent Aaron Hickey to replace suspended Mitchell Dijks and Andreas Skov Olsen in place of Riccardo Orsolini. Fabrizio Liverani recovered striker Gervinho – possibly for the last time, as the Ivorian is rumored to be on Inter’s radar.
Parma seemed off to a good start as, just one minute after the kick off whistle, Takehiro Tomiyasu had to block a Gervinho shot from point-blank range after the Ivorian had made the Rossoblu defense panick. Later on, Yann Karamoh served Gastòn Brugman a golden pass but the Argentine’s lob shot didn’t catch Lukas Skorupski by surprise.
Bologna’s lead, on the other hand, seemed to come out of nowhere: From a Musa Barrow corner kick, Roberto Soriano powered a header that was blocked by Parma’s goalie Luigi Sepe past the goal line.
Fourteen minutes later, Soriano wrapped his brace and doubled the home side’s lead with a right-foot shot from the edge of the box, which was however fatally deflected by Bruno Alves into his own net.
Parma protested for an alleged handball from Tomiyasu but all in all didn’t manage to pose any more threat to Skorupski for the rest of the first half. After the restart, the Gialloblu tried to increase their pressure but were pierced once again as Skov Olsen made it three finalizing for the best a Soriano assist.
Lukas Skorupski gift-wrapped Parma’s first goal with a miscalculated pass that provided Hernani a chance to score and save the Crociati‘s honor. If Parma had any hopes to reopen the game, however, those were promptly shattered as defender Simone Iacoponi received his marching orders in the 71st minute.
Right before full time, Rodrigo Palacio scored the fourth for Bologna, whose only regret in a triumphal night was not being able to maintain the clean sheet yet another time – the Rossoblu have conceded at least one goal in 37 out of their last 40 games.
MATCH REPORT
September 28, 2020 – Serie A 2020-2021 Round 2
BOLOGNA-PARMA 4-1
SCORERS: 16’ Soriano (B), 30’ Soriano (B), 56’ Skov Olsen (B), 67’ Hernani (P), 91′ Palacio (B)
BOLOGNA (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; De Silvestri, Danilo, Tomiyasu, Hickey (70’ Denswil); Poli (64’ Medel), Schouten; Skov Olsen (92’ Orsolini), Soriano, Palacio (92’ Santander); Barrow (70’ Sansone) (Da Costa, Dominguez, Bani, Mbaye, Baldursson, Svanberg, Vignato) Coach: Mihajlovic | |
PARMA (4-3-1-2): Sepe; Laurini, Iacoponi, Bruno Alves, Darmian; Dezi (58’ Siligardi), Brugman (81’ Dermaku), Hernani; Kucka; Gervinho (69’ Sprocati), Karamoh (81’ Adorante ) (Colombi, Alastra, Pezzella, Balogh, Grassi, Ricci, Simonetti, Kasa) Coach: Liverani |
REFEREE: Mr. Valeri from Roma
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Sansone (B), Kucka, Laurini (P); Red Card: Iacoponi (P); Extra Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 4′