BOLOGNA v AC MILAN: OPPONENT REVIEW

Coach Pioli's Rossoneri visit one of the most in-form teams in the league: Bologna, led by Thiago Motta. The Rossoblù, after an initial period of adaptation to the new coach, are reaping the benefits of the new management, as the most recent results show. Eloquent are those relating to the last three months: since the beginning of February, Bologna have gained 17 points in Serie A - only Napoli, Juventus (both 21) and Lazio (20) have done better in this period.

A Champions League worthy rhythm, therefore, that the team from Emilia have been maintaining in their last two league outings, where they have also won without conceding a goal in their last two matches - they have not collected three victories in a row whilst keeping a clean sheet in the top flight since February 1973. And restricting it to home matches, the Rossoblù have not conceded a goal in their last three matches at the Dall'Ara in Serie A, and they have not done better since January 2000, when they achieved eight consecutive home clean sheets.

FAST RESTARTS ARE REGULAR, DEFENSIVE SOLIDITY A NOVELTY
The game expressed by Bologna this season finds similarities with that of the Rossoneri, who make counter-attacking one of their main weapons to hurt their opponents. The Rossoblù are also quite accustomed to this type of play, having several players in their ranks who are able to exploit spaces and break away in the open field. In particular, AC Milan (44) and Bologna (21, as well as Inter) are two of the top four teams for counterattacks in this league. The similarities between the two teams coached respectively by Stefano Pioli and Thiago Motta do not end there: Bologna, in fact, is one of the two teams - together with Salernitana - not to have scored any goals from free kicks, either direct or indirect, while AC Milan have scored only one goal from these situations.

Regardless of the different ways in which the two teams find their way to goal, in the last period the Rossoblù and Rossoneri have shown the ease with which they can exploit most of the players on the field in finishing the offensive manoeuvre: Bologna have scored their last seven goals with seven different players (Ferguson, Lykogiannīs, Posch, Moro, Barrow, Sansone and Orsolini) while AC Milan have scored seven of the last eight goals with different scorers (Messias, Theo Hernández, Giroud, Ibrahimović, Leão, Brahim Díaz and Saelemaekers). Another constant for the Emilian team in the last period has been the clean sheet: five in the second half of the season, the same as the Rossoneri - only Napoli and Lazio (both six) have more in the second half of this championship.

BARROW IN GREAT FORM, NUMEROUS ATTACKING OPTIONS
In each of Bologna's last five Serie A goals, one of Barrow or Orsolini has had a hand in either scoring and assisting. However, the Rossoblù will have to do without the latter, who will miss the match at the Dall'Ara against the Rossoneri through suspension. The responsibility, therefore, of carrying the team on his shoulders will fall mainly on Musa Barrow, who is in fact one of the most in-form players at the moment. The Gambian is the player who has been involved in the most goals this April 2023 (four: one goal and three assists) and could also take part in at least one goal in three Serie A matches in a row for the first time since October 2021 (four matches in that case). Overall, the former Atalanta man has provided four of his five assists in the league in the second half of the season, fewer only than Domenico Berardi (six) in his time in Serie A.

In an attack orphaned by Orsolini and with Arnautović unavailable, it is expected to see Nicola Sansone on the pitch from the first minute, he who has scored four goals against AC Milan in Serie A - only at Inter has he scored more (five) in the competition. In addition to the necessary attention on the Rossoblù's offensive department, the Rossoneri will also have to be on their guard with regard to the contribution in the goal area that Bologna receive from the defence, where Stefan Posch in particular stands out, the scorer of a great goal from distance in the last home game - opening the scoring in the 3-0 win over Udinese. Overall, only Jeremie Frimpong (eight) and Nuno Tavares (six) have scored more goals than the Rossoblù's '97-born man (five) among defenders in the top five European leagues 2022/23.

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