A winning team doesn’t change: or, logic says, it changes as little as possible. This is why the face that Bologna will have tonight against Lazio is announced as almost ‘matching’ with that of the team that Italiano christened two weeks ago to defeat Roma.
One of the few exceptions is between the posts, where a bout of flu has knocked out Skorupski: in his place will be Ravaglia, who in theory was running for a starting shirt even without the Pole’s illness.
In defense there is the central conundrum. If until yesterday Casale seemed the ideal candidate to pair up with Beukema, given that Lucumi returned to the group only on Friday after the commitments with Colombia, after Italiano’s words yesterday there are some doubts.
“Casale worked well during the break – said the coach –, but like everyone else he has to be good at waiting for his moment”. Is there an air of extraordinary for the Beukema-Lucumi duo (unless the Erlic option emerges)? We’ll see.
Meanwhile, on the left, Miranda appears to have the edge over Lykogiannis, who returned to the squad yesterday, but who needs to shake off some rust after the injury from which he has just recovered.
In midfield Freuler is the usual certainty and the suspect to play alongside him is Pobega, with Moro and Urbanski as possible alternatives. Then there is the variable Ferguson, the Scotsman who has just renewed his contract and is not far from the first jersey as a starter, even if yesterday Italiano was cautious about his possible use from the first minute (“Lewis is fine and is growing a lot, but calm down, we must not rush things”).
In attack, Odgaard should once again duet with Castro, with the Dane behind the Argentine. Orsolini on the right seems to be a certainty (but watch out for the outsider Iling-Junior), while on the left Karlsson (“the goal against Roma changed his posture and facial expressions in training”), given the unavailability of Ndoye, seems to have a clear advantage over Dominguez.
At Lazio, however, Baroni, who did not hold a press conference yesterday, should focus on the attacking trio of Isaksen, Castellanos and Zaccagni. With Dia, Pedro and Noslin, surprise cards that should not be ruled out a priori.
mv
