Italiano: ‘Bologna season is over, lack of time is frustrating’

Vincenzo Italiano admits Bologna’s ‘season is basically over now’ after the 2-0 defeat to Juventus, but is frustrated they ‘had no time to prepare’ after the Europa League with Aston Villa.

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It has been a bit of a nightmare week for the Rossoblu, who were swept aside 4-0 by Aston Villa on Thursday in the Europa League quarter-final, 7-1 on aggregate.

They had the worst possible start in Turin too, going behind to a Jonathan David glancing header in the opening 90 seconds.

It was a particularly surprising development, as Bologna hadn’t conceded a Serie A goal before half-time since February against Milan.

Khephren Thuram added a second, also with a header, while Emil Holm and Jonathan Rowe rattled the frame of the goal.

Italiano frustrated by Bologna calendar

“The performance was because we were up against a strong team that had the chance to prepare every detail for a week,” Italiano told DAZN Italia.

“It’s not an alibi, but it is a fact, that yet again we got off the plane on Friday evening and then had to travel again straight away, so we practically haven’t trained at all. It has been the situation all year.

“We conceded very early today, as we were too stretched out and didn’t have the right shape, but we adjusted a few things at half-time and suffered less. We created a few situations, but I think that early goal made it an uphill struggle.

“It’s tough not being able to prepare for matches because there just isn’t time, especially against a team that had a full week to focus only on their plan.”

Bologna looked fatigued and stretched thin by their midweek commitments, especially as they also lost Federico Bernardeschi to a thigh injury, so ended the game with 10 men as the substitutions had all been completed.

“I told Bernardeschi it was my fault, as I introduced him because I saw how the Juve fans applauded him before kick-off, and felt it would be a lovely moment to get a tribute from this crowd. Santiago Castro was tired too, but unfortunately Fede had just got back to fitness and I don’t think we’ll have him again for the rest of the season,” said Italiano.

“There are always margins for improvement, the season is basically finished for us now, so we have to try to use these games to improve and grow. We had wanted to still be challenging for something important in April, and we achieved that, even if we dropped Serie A points to balance that out.

“Now we have no idea what can happen ahead of us, but we’ve got to just try to get as many points as possible now.”

There is a very tough run-in this season for Bologna, who still have to play Roma, Cagliari, Napoli, Atalanta and Inter.

“We wanted to be more aggressive with the midfielders today rather than the defenders, but we weren’t accustomed to it, so we’ll try to work on that. As I said, we achieved the targets we had set for this season, and it’s a shame that the only games we lost in the Europa League were against Aston Villa, who I feel can win the trophy.

“We’ll try some tactical experiments, test out some new players, and try to at least secure eighth place.”