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.

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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)

12-04-2026 17:00

MatchDay 32

Renato Dall'Ara Stadium

Bologna

Lecce

2 - 0

Player statistic

1st half

Remo Freuler		26'
		36'		Oumar Ngom
		38'		Jamil Siebert

2nd half

Riccardo Orsolini (Assist: Federico Bernardeschi)

90+2'

Bologna

Lecce

Starting lineups

25

Massimo Pessina

Goalkeeper

26

Jhon Lucumí

Defender

17

João Mário

Defender

66'

33

Juan Miranda

Defender

16

Nicolò Casale

Defender

6

Nikola Moro

Midfielder

85'

8

Remo Freuler

Midfielder

23

Simon Sohm

Midfielder

74'

28

Nicolò Cambiaghi

Attacker

74'

7

Riccardo Orsolini

Attacker

9

Santiago Castro

Attacker

85'

30

Wladimiro Falcone

Goalkeeper

3

Corrie Ndaba

Defender

46'

17

Danilo Veiga

Defender

5

Jamil Siebert

Defender

44

Tiago Gabriel

Defender

29

Lassana Coulibaly

Midfielder

79

Oumar Ngom

Midfielder

46'

20

Ylber Ramadani

Midfielder

19

Lameck Banda

Attacker

64'

9

Nikola Stulic

Attacker

64'

50

Santiago Pierotti

Attacker

83'

Substitutes

29

Lorenzo De Silvestri

Defender

13

Federico Ravaglia

Goalkeeper

41

Martin Vitik

Defender

14

Torbjørn Heggem

Defender

82

Matteo Franceschelli

Goalkeeper

73

Francesco Castaldo

Attacker

20

Nadir Zortea

Defender

66'

4

Tommaso Pobega

Midfielder

74'

11

Jonathan Rowe

Midfielder

74'

10

Federico Bernardeschi

Attacker

85'

21

Jens Odgaard

Attacker

85'

14

Thórir Jóhann Helgason

Midfielder

32

Jasper Samooja

Goalkeeper

1

Christian Früchtl

Goalkeeper

36

Filip Marchwinski

Midfielder

18

Gaby Jean

Defender

8

Sadik Fofana

Defender

13

Matías Pérez

Defender

80

Niko Kovač

Midfielder

25

Antonino Gallo

Defender

46'

16

Omri Gandelman

Midfielder

46'

99

Walid Cheddira

Attacker

64'

11

Konan N’Dri

Attacker

64'

6

Álex Sala

Midfielder

83'