Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Serie A clash between Bologna and Parma, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Aiming to bounce back following disappointment on the continent earlier in the week, Bologna will welcome newly-promoted Parma to Stadio Renato Dall’Ara for a Serie A clash on Sunday afternoon.
The Rossoblu were beat at the home of Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday night, whilst Parmigiani have been afforded close to an entire week to recover from a domestic defeat last time out.
Match preview
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Finishing fifth in the 2023-24 Serie A standings, Bologna managed to sneak into the revamped Champions League this season for the first time, and following a respectable goalless draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in their opening continental match, the Italians made the daunting trip to Anfield on Tuesday night.
Despite adapting their approach on Merseyside to become more direct, the Rossoblu were unable to earn anything tangible from a legendary evening against one of Europe’s best outfits, with goals either side of the half-time whistle from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah securing three points for Arne Slot‘s troops.
As is often the case for an over-performing team in the previous season, Bologna have lost many of the key components that made them so successful during 2023-24, with Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori moving to Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, whilst head coach Thiago Motta switched to Juventus.
Arguably due to plenty of changes over the off-season, the Rossoblu have endured a challenging start to life in Serie A this season and currently occupy 13th place in the top-flight standings, with Vincenzo Italiano winning just one of his eight competitive matches in charge to date.
Bologna possess an unusual record at their Stadio Renato Dall’Ara base at the beginning of this term, with Sunday afternoon’s hosts drawing all three of their home matches so far in Serie A, sharing the spoils with Udinese, Empoli and Europa League holders Atalanta BC.
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Languishing in the depths of the third tier of Italian football as recently as 2017, Parma are cherishing their return to Serie A this season following a gruelling three-year absence, with Sunday afternoon’s visitors enjoying a steady start before tailing off in recent weeks.
The collection of four points from their opening two league contests against Fiorentina and AC Milan represented an exceptional start for the Serie B champions, although one point from the most recent quartet of fixtures has left Parmigiani looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone.
Scoring in each of their six Serie A matches so far and only losing by a single goal, Parma are certainly putting up a fight on the top table of Italian football, with Fabio Pecchia‘s men sitting 15th in the league rankings, above 18th-placed Lecce courtesy of a superior goal difference.
A star at Stadio Ennio Tardini and for Romania on the international stage, Dennis Man has enjoyed a productive start to the top-flight term in the attack of the newly-promoted side, netting three goals and providing one assist in six matches after managing 19 goal contributions across the 2023-24 term.
Parma will be looking to end a nine-game winless run against Bologna this weekend, with Parmigiani’s last success against the Rossoblu arriving at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in December 2012, when second-half efforts from Nicola Sansone and Jaime Valdes secured a comeback victory.
Bologna Serie A form:
Bologna form (all competitions):
Parma Serie A form:
Team News
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Bologna are without the services of centre-back Jhon Lucumi this weekend, with the Colombian receiving a red card during the draw with Atalanta on September 28.
The Rossoblu are also unable to call upon the talents of Scotland international Lewis Ferguson, who is sidelined until December due to a cruciate ligament injury.
Tommaso Pobega‘s season-long loan from AC Milan has been blighted by injury so far, with the midfielder targeting a November return from a troublesome knee injury.
Providing four goal contributions so far in Serie A, Santiago Castro is doing his utmost to fill the shoes of former marksman Zirkzee this campaign.
Parma have a pair of long-term absentees in their medical room, with both Alessandro Circati and Mateusz Kowalski expected to be out for the remainder of the campaign.
Critical during Parmigiani’s promotion charge last season, Nahuel Estevez is a doubt for this weekend’s clash due to a muscle injury sustained in August.
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Casale, Miranda; Freuler, Orsolini, Urbanski, Moro, Ndoye; Castro
Parma possible starting lineup:
Suzuki; Del Prato, Osorio, Balogh, Coulibaly; Hainaut, Bernabe, Man, Hernani, Almqvist; Bonny
We say: Bologna 2-1 Parma
Putting up a decent fight at Anfield on Tuesday night, Bologna should be confident of collecting three points from a newly-promoted side on home soil this weekend.
We expect second-tier champions Parma to be competitive at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, although we believe that the Rossoblu will snatch all of the points in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.