Bologna vs Sassuolo

Bologna’s last Serie A home match of the season pits them against out-of-sorts Sassuolo at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.

Despite taking an early lead at rock-bottom Venezia last time out, Bologna ultimately found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline, ending a run of seven Serie A matches without losing (W2, D5). An underwhelming showing at the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo has condemned ‘I Rossoblu’ to their eighth bottom-half finish in nine top-flight campaigns in all likelihood. Sinisa Mihajlovic’s return to Dall’Ara after more than a month of leukemia treatment will be an emotional one, as Bologna aim to complete only their second-ever Serie A double over Sassuolo, following a 3-0 triumph in the reverse fixture. There’s plenty of reason for optimism in the home camp, as Bologna have won two of their last three home league matches (D1), netting precisely two goals in all three.

On the other hand, Sassuolo appeared to be marching towards another top-half finish before an underwhelming run of four Serie A matches without winning (D1, L3) hindered their progress. With 10th-placed Torino three points away, there’s no room for error, as ‘I Neroverdi’ hope to avoid suffering four consecutive Serie A defeats away from home for the first time since 2019. But it’s worth noting that Sassuolo have lost their last three away league games by an aggregate score of 9-2, suggesting something is going terribly wrong in Alessio Dionisi’s camp. Yet, only table-topping AC Milan (38) have netted more away goals than Sassuolo (34) this Serie A season, which highlights the visitors’ keen eye for goal and attacking-minded approach. They’ll need their star forwards Gianluca Scamacca and Domenico Berardi at their best, as they’ve only kept one clean sheet across 18 Serie A trips this term.