January 18, 2025. 4:00 p.m. Bologna. “Renato Dall’Ara”
Serie A, Matchday 21
Injured: Ebisher, El-Azzuzi – Pessina, Gagliardini, Cragno, Mari, Birindelli, Caldoro, Birindelli, Kyriakopoulos (?)
Suspended : Pereira (“Monza”)
Bologna vs Monza: Betting Odds
Bologna
In the last four days, Bologna have drawn twice with a score of 2-2 – at home against Roma and away against Inter.
After Santiago Castro opened the scoring, the defending champions scored twice. However, Emil Holm joined the attack and surprised everyone by tapping in a cross from Orsolini. Now, in the match against Monza, the Rossoblu will hope for their first victory since December. If Bologna beat Monza, it will set a record for the club, as the team has never accumulated 33 points after 20 matches in the league.
“We have to capitalize on these positive moments, these performances that we continue to show. Everyone is focused, the boys are ready. We must evaluate everything that prevents us from winning: mistakes when conceding goals. We train little and play a lot, we have to draw inspiration and fight in matches. In some matches we see perfect mechanics, while other times we transformed from a team that didn’t concede, to one that concedes too much. The main thing is to stay true to ourselves, especially when we train less. By taking advantage of being in front of our fans, making few mistakes, we could achieve more at home in our last two games.”
“The only thing I’m afraid of is that the boys won’t recover in time. On Wednesday we had to make superhuman efforts, and playing Saturday at 3:00 p.m. (local time) is difficult,” said Vincenzo Italiano.
-However, in this match, the coach will be able to count on Lucumi, back from suspension.
Monza
A strong speech from CEO Adriano Galliani bore fruit. After declaring that any player who did not believe in saving could leave, Monza secured their first victory since October. And against whom! They triumphed over Fiorentina (2-1). The Brianzoli beat their former coach Raffaele Palladino thanks to goals from Patrick Ciurria and Daniel Maldini. In his ninth Serie A match as head coach, Salvatore Bocchetti secured a victory. The next day, Galliani gave the coach his first draw.
“I hope to put together a nice collection! We won, and I congratulated the team, but the next day we went back to work. Now more than ever, we need to earn points and show maturity. The key words are ‘concentration’ and ‘rage’. Against Fiorentina, we aimed not to concede; this is a fundamental issue for us. It depends on the whole team, not just the defense. There must always be this team spirit: we don’t want to score as much as we want to prevent the opponent from shooting at our goal,” said Salvatore Bocchetti.
The Monza coach added: “As a coach, I have never seen so many injuries…” 8 players unavailable: Pessina, Gagliardini, Cragno, Mari, Birindelli, Caldoro, and Birindelli will definitely not play; Kyriakopoulos is doubtful. Pereira is also suspended.
Bologna vs Monza: Predicted Lineups
Bologna vs Monza: Author’s Prediction
Given the squad problems, Monza will struggle to contain Bologna, who scored twice against Roma and Inter. Monza will rely on defense, so a home victory should not be big or goal-rich.
