Tonight at 9pm Vincenzo Italiano’s Bologna will return to live a night of great European football: Castro and his teammates are on stage at Anfield Road, to try to stop Arne Slot’s army. A task that promises to be not easy due to the obvious difference in level of the two teams at least on paper, but in football we know: nothing is taken for granted and the final judge is always the pitch.
How Liverpool arrive
Liverpool arrive in sensational form. First in the Premier League with 15 points, the result of 5 wins and one defeat. 12 goals scored and just 2 conceded. In the Champions League he started in the best way by beating Milan at the Meazza 3 to 1. Three run-offs mainly for Slot: on the left Robertson plays for a shirt with Tsimikas, in midfield Szoboszlai is threatened by Jones, while up front the Dutch coach hasn’t decided whether to field Diaz or Gakpo. On the eve of the match, he said of his Italian colleague: “We studied him, not him in particular but his teams. They have a certain style of play and I always liked that he conveyed his identity, first to Fiorentina and then to Bologna. So we know what to expect.”
How Bologna arrives
The Bolognese drew 0-0 on their debut against Shakhtar Donetsk, a match with two faces, in which the rossoblu first risked capitulating and then instead of winning and in any case they played on equal terms. In the championship things went less well and in 7 days there was just one victory, two days ago against Monza. In the last outing, however, there was a draw against Atalanta despite being numerically inferior for almost an entire half. Italiano said on the eve: “A new path has begun for us. I believe that this journey to the Champions League can also leave us a lot because it will be an experience that will make everyone grow, myself, the boys and the management. We are a team that at the moment is starting an important growth path”
The probable lineups of Liverpool-Bologna
LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk, Konaté, Robertson; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Nunez. All. Slot.
BOLOGNA (4-3-3): Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Lucumí, Lykogiannis; Aebischer, Freuler, Urbanski; Orsolini, Castro, Ndoye. All. Italian.