BOLOGNA

League position: 11th
Head coach: Sinisa Mihajlovic
Serie A top-scorer: Roberto Soriano (9)

RECENT FORM

Roma: L W L D W
Bologna: L L W W L

The midweek win over Ajax was much needed for the Giallorossi who had gone three games without a victory in Serie A (D1, L2).

Only once have they ended up four on the bounce without a league victory under Paulo Fonseca - in February 2020 - and they will be hoping to rekindle their superb home form from earlier in the season when Bologna come to town.

As for the visitors, defeat at home to leaders Inter Milan last time out ended back-to-back Serie A wins for Mihajlovic’s side.

They are in far better shape then when Roma put five past them at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Matchday 11 - but have lost two of their last three on the road (W1, L2).

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Roberto Soriano

Bologna have bemoaned a lack of goals this season, but Soriano is their Serie A top scorer courtesy of nine top-flight strikes.

The 30-year-old has, crucially, scored five of those nine goals in their nine league victories and only twice has he found the back of the net in a losing cause.

It means that if Soriano scores, Bologna’s chances of collecting points at the final whistle are significantly increased.

In his 12 previous fixtures against Roma, however, the nine-capped Italy striker has never gotten on the scoresheet.

MATCH STATS

Bologna may have beaten Roma more times (50) than any other side in their Serie A history, but it’s the Giallorossi who have the better of this fixture with 52 wins and a further 43 draws.

Roma have scored in each of their last 29 Serie A home matches against Bologna; a record only ever bettered in Serie A by Juventus (vs. Fiorentina, 34 games from 1983-2020) and Inter (vs. Udinese, 31 games from 1959-2010).

Roma have scored the majority of their Serie A goals in the first half of matches this season (58%), while Bologna have conceded their bulk in the second half of games (56%).

This stat is backed up by last time these two met earlier in the campaign, when Roma scored five times in the first half.

Bologna have lost 10 of their last 12 league games against sides starting the match-day in the top seven.

PLAYER STATS

• Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s influence has been key this season - with Roma picking up 1.9 points per game on average (56% win percentage) with him in their side
  
• Edin Dzeko has scored five league goals against Bologna - all at the Dall’Ara.
  
• Lorenzo Pellegrini (five goals, six assists) is the first Italian Giallorossi player to score five times and lay on a further five assists in a single top flight campaign since Francesco Totti in 2014-15.
  
• Musa Barrow scored the first of his three Serie A braces against Roma in February 2020. He has been involved in 13 league goals this season (six goals, seven assists).

WHAT THEY SAID

“If you don’t score goals, you won’t win games. I think we overall did better than Inter, we forced them to defend and counter, we pressed and caused them problems. I could not have asked for more in that sense.

“It’s been the same problem for two years. People always say, if you had a proper centre-forward, you might be in Europe. Someone who’d score 15 goals per season, not even 20… I don’t know if we would’ve played better or worse, but we probably would’ve had more points.”

- Bologna coach Mihajlovic, after the 1-0 loss to Inter