Overview
After a series of disastrous declines in Serie A - only winning 2 in the last 13 matches - along with being eliminated from the Coppa Italia, Bologna is forced to see the Europa League as a key goal for the rest of the season.
Currently ranked eighth in the rankings and left behind by the European Cup group, Bologna just stopped in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia after losing to Lazio, almost closing the door to return to the European arena through the domestic league.
Therefore, the 1-0 victory over SK Brann in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs is of great relief for coach Vincenzo Italiano - who is under a lot of pressure. Just a few days after ending a 4-match losing streak in Serie A with a win against Torino, Santiago Castro continued to play the hero in Norway, bringing Rossoblu closer to the round of 16.
Aiming to win two consecutive victories for the first time since November, Bologna will try to reverse the situation at Renato Dall'Ara stadium. However, the home form of the Emilia region representative is a warning bell.
They have lost all 4 recent matches in Serie A. If they continue to be empty-handed, this will be the second time in history that the team has suffered five consecutive home defeats in the highest league in Italy.
The consequence of the poor performance streak is that Bologna has fallen out of the top 6 leading teams and is currently only one point ahead of Udinese - the opponent they once defeated 3-0 in the first leg this season.
In the opposite direction, after winning two consecutive victories in Serie A for the first time since September, Udinese's short progress has been stopped in the last two rounds.
The 3-1 victory at Hellas Verona's stadium helped them squeeze into the top 10, before consolidating their position with a win against Roma. However, coach Kosta Runjaic's team then lost due to a late decisive goal at Lecce's stadium and continued to fall to Sassuolo right at home.
At Stadio Via del Mare, Udinese dropped points due to a goal conceded in the 90th minute, and in the next match, they lost the lead even though Oumar Solet scored the second goal in 2 consecutive matches. The French defender once again did not fully enjoy the joy when Sassuolo scored 2 consecutive goals in just the first 3 minutes of the second half to reverse the situation.
However, Udinese is still on the right track in the goal of reaching the finish line safely in the mid-table area. Coach Runjaic is assigned the task of maintaining the competitiveness of the Friuli team, and developing players with high transfer value.
Before the away match to Emilia-Romagna, Udinese only won 6 out of the last 17 away matches in Serie A and kept a clean sheet in just 2 matches - numbers showing that a significant challenge is waiting for them.
Personnel situation
With a plan to rotate forces and at the same time focus on the rematch with SK Brann in the Europa League in the middle of the week, coach Vincenzo Italiano almost has enough players to choose from.
Two defenders Eivind Helland and Lorenzo De Silvestri - names not on Bologna's UEFA registration list - are both ready to play in Serie A, while only Charalampos Lykogiannis is sidelined due to injury.
On the other side, Udinese continues to face personnel losses as key striker Keinan Davis has not recovered from his injury. Meanwhile, Oumar Solet's ability to play is still uncertain due to muscle problems.
If he recovers in time, Solet is likely to return to the familiar 3-center-back system, even though coach Kosta Runjaic tested a 4-man defense in the match against Sassuolo.
Expected lineup:
Skorupski, Zortea, Heggem, Lucumi, Miranda, Freuler, Moro, Orsolini, Odgaard, Rowe, Castro.
Okoye, Bertola, Kristensen, Kabasele, Ehizibue, Atta, Karlstrom, Ekkelenkamp, Zemura, Zaniolo, Bayo.
The match between Bologna and Udinese takes place at 2:45 am on February 24 (Vietnam time).
