Bologna and Cagliari head into their game with just one point separating them in the Serie A table. Both sides are winless in the opening two fixtures this term. This weekend represents an opportunity to be third-time lucky.
Preview (Bologna vs. Cagliari)
After last week’s 1-1 draw against Juventus, Thiago Motta and his team were incensed, and for good reason. Marco Di Bello nor the VAR had seen Samuel Iling-Junior’s foul on Dan Ndoye inside the penalty area. The incident occurred with the Rossoblu leading 1-0. It prevented Motta’s team from increasing their lead. It was minutes before Dusan Vlahovic tied the score with a well-placed header off of a cross from Iling-Junior. The team from Emilia-Romagna is now winless after two games as a result. Despite the fact that they began this season with matches against AC Milan and Juventus.
They will relish the challenge of playing Cagliari on Saturday. Bologna has lost by razor-thin margins in weeks one and two. They should have taken the lead against Stefano Pioli’s team in the first few seconds. Bologna may have been up 2-0 against Juventus at the Allianz Stadium if the referees had made the right rulings. However, they hope to make amends this weekend. Due to the small sample size, Claudio Ranieri’s team has played 180 minutes without scoring, which is far from a pattern but is still something to keep an eye on.
The expected goals (xG) against Torino (0.4) and Inter Milan (0.6) show that the Sardinians must improve the caliber of their opportunities, and it is yet to be seen whether the league’s newcomers are more creative in the attacking third. The significance of Saturday’s match, in which the home team is unquestionably the favorite, is highlighted by Cagliari’s winless streak at Bologna since a 1-0 victory in January 2010. The visitors should perform well in round three if they want to break a 13-year losing streak at Reggio Emilia.
Team News
Adama Soumaoro won’t play for Bologna until 2024 after rupturing his knee. The center won’t to return until then. Musa Barrow, despite rumors to the contrary, has remained in Reggio Emilia; nonetheless, it is unlikely that he will make his season debut this year. Lewis Ferguson, who scored his first goal of the new campaign against Juventus and finished the previous campaign with seven league goals for the Rossoblu, could be the difference-maker for the home team.
Marko Rog, Gianluca Lapadula, Marco Mancosu, Gaston Pereiro, Jacopo Desogus, and Elio Capradossi are just a few of the injured players Ranieri will be without this weekend. Eldor Shomurodov will start in place of Leonardo Pavoletti against Bologna. The forward came off early in Monday’s loss to Inter. On Saturday, Cagliari’s winless streak in Bologna is likely to continue as the visitors suffer a narrow loss to their better-organized hosts.
Bologna 1 – 0 Cagliari
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