Serie A | Bologna 2-0 Lecce: Freuler sufficient for victory
Remo Freuler’s tap-in and a stoppage-time Riccardo Orsolini goal ultimately proved enough for Bologna to beat Lecce, who remain in the relegation zone.
The Rossoblu were shaken by Thursday’s heavy 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa in the Europa League quarter-final, so with the second leg coming up next week, had to turn their focus back to Serie A. Lewis Ferguson sat out a ban, with Thijs Dallinga, Charalampos Lykogiannis, Lukasz Skorupski, Benjamin Dominguez and Eivind Helland injured. Goalkeeper Massimo Pessina was given his first Serie A start. Lecce were in crisis after three consecutive losses and dropped into the relegation zone. Antonino Gallo returned to the squad, but Riccardo Sottil, Francesco Camarda, Kialonda Gaspar and Medon Berisha were still sidelined.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Tiago Gabriel at full stretch prevented Santiago Castro tapping in the Riccardo Orsolini cross from six yards, but Nikola Stulic went clear on the counter-attack only to be denied by a fantastic one-handed save from 18-year-old Pessina.
Ylber Ramadani blasted just over, but Bologna took the lead in somewhat chaotic fashion.
Jhon Lucumi’s ball over the top was ignored by Castro in an offside position, allowing Orsolini to run onto it and smash onto the underside of the bar with a lob, but Remo Freuler was ready to turn in the rebound.
Bologna started to put together a run of chances, as Nicolò Casale couldn’t keep his header down on a Nikola Moro free kick, then Orsolini tested Wladimiro Falcone at the near post after a series of stepovers.
Lecce were dangerous on the counter after the restart, Moro needing a desperate tackle to prevent Santiago Pierotti meeting the Stulic pull-back. On the resulting corner, Antonino Gallo was penalised because when trying to keep the ball from going out, he accidental clattered into the linesman.
Bologna kept pushing, as Castro’s shot was charged down by Jamil Siebert, then he just failed to get on the end of a cross from six yards, while Falcone stuck out a boot to deny Orsolini at the near post.
Orsolini took too long to get the Juan Miranda pull-back under control and it was eventually blocked off by a defender inside the penalty area.
Castro had the ball in the net on 82 minutes, but the referee had already stopped play for a soft Orsolini nudge when robbing Ramadani at the by-line.
Orsolini desperately wanted to end his goal drought and he got it in stoppages. Ramadani was clumsy when firing a free kick onto the back of Miranda, so Federico Bernardeschi pounced on the ricochet and immediately sent Orsolini down the right to score.
Bologna 2-0 Lecce
Freuler 26 (B), Orsolini 92 (B)
Player statistic
| Remo Freuler | 26' | |||
| 36' | Oumar Ngom | |||
| 38' |  |
Jamil Siebert |
| Riccardo Orsolini (Assist: Federico Bernardeschi) |
 |
90+2' |
