Vincenzo Italiano, the coach of Bologna, has expressed his desire for his team to be “more clinical in front of goal” when they face Aston Villa in the Europa League quarter-final. He also stressed the importance of making the night “isn’t a comfortable night for them.”
The situation for Bologna is challenging after a 3-1 home defeat in the first leg. Despite the scoreline, their performance was noted as being significantly better than the result suggested.
Italiano Calls for a Courageous Bologna Performance
“I would love to play five minutes tonight, though I couldn’t manage more than that,” Italiano stated with a smile to Sky Sport Italia. “It’s a fantastic environment, the team is strong, I expect a different match to the one that we saw on Thursday, but we’ll play our cards. The important thing is to match their intensity, try to cause problems for them when we’ve got the ball, and we’ll see what happens.”
Interestingly, Bologna has only lost two Europa League matches this season, and both were against Aston Villa, including the initial defeat in Birmingham earlier in the season.
“We must try to keep the ball, as Aston Villa let you keep it for a bit, and we need to attack with everyone we can get into the box. We also need to be wary when we lose the ball and be more clinical in front of goal than we were in our last two trips here.”
Bologna will be without Jhon Lucumi due to suspension, and Lukasz Skorupski, Thijs Dallinga, and Benjamin Dominguez are injured. However, Martin Vitik returns from his ban.
“Aston Villa will have their usual approach, they even have a two-goal advantage, so it will be the same as the previous meetings. When we defend, we’ve got to defend well, but above all must prove that we can hurt them when we’ve got the chance. I believe we can do that.”
Italiano also highlighted the offensive options available from the bench at Villa Park, mentioning Odgaard, Sohm, Pobega, Cambiaghi, and Orsolini. He plans to “evaluate” the situation as the game progresses.
“I want to see the maximum desire to cause them problems, to ensure this isn’t a comfortable night for them, try to improve the result and leave here with our heads held high. I think courage is the right word, what we need in this stadium and against this opponent.”
“These lads always bring out something extra at the crucial moments, and I believe they’ll do it again tonight,” Italiano concluded.
