Bologna manager Vincenzo Italiano expressed his frustration following a 3-1 loss to Aston Villa in the Europa League. He pointed to the same recurring errors that have plagued his team throughout the season, while acknowledging Aston Villa’s clinical performance.
“We were in the game from start to finish,” Italiano stated. “We saw what we expected from them, but if you make certain mistakes against them, you will be punished. If you gift them two or three goals, you are inevitably going to struggle, both on the night and in the tie.”
Despite a spirited performance, Bologna was undone by defensive lapses and misfortune. They struck the woodwork twice, and a goal from Santiago Castro was disallowed for a marginal offside. In contrast, Aston Villa capitalized on every opportunity.
Ezri Konsa opened the scoring for Villa after a misjudged corner from Bologna’s goalkeeper, Federico Ravaglia. Ollie Watkins then doubled their lead following a misplaced pass from the back, a common error for the Italian side.
While Jonathan Rowe managed to pull one back for Bologna, giving them a glimmer of hope, Aston Villa quickly extinguished it with another late corner goal from Watkins, who was left unmarked.
Italiano Believes Aston Villa Will Win Europa League
Italiano was particularly emphatic about Aston Villa’s prospects in the competition. “I think tonight we saw confirmation of what I thought beforehand, which is that Aston Villa will win the Europa League,” he said. “Congratulations to them, because they made the most of absolutely everything we let slip, despite a good performance from Bologna.”
The Bologna coach also touched upon the tactical approach, noting that Aston Villa did not heavily press, which in turn made his team hesitant to press too aggressively for fear of being exposed.
“If they put the ball over the top and move so many players into space, it can be damaging,” Italiano explained. “Before the match, I told the lads these are situations where you mustn’t be superficial in any situation, whether it’s giving away a corner or a loose pass, because this team will punish you at the slightest error. Unfortunately, that’s what happened.”
He lamented the errors that led to the goals, specifically mentioning the throw-in that resulted in the first goal and the miscommunication during the build-up to the second. “We just can’t seem to have a full game without errors,” he confessed.
Bologna faces an uphill battle in the second leg at Villa Park, a ground where they have already suffered defeats this season. Italiano acknowledged the difficulty of overturning the deficit.
“It’s frustrating, because when you see how many chances we created against the level of opposition, we did good things tonight,” he reiterated. “It would be a sporting miracle to turn this around, but as we saw yesterday with Barcelona losing to Atletico Madrid, anything can happen. It’s particularly odd in Europe, because sometimes you get referees who don’t whistle at all, others they give cards for the slightest contact.”
“Admittedly, 2-1 would’ve been a different result, even if they have a different gear on their own turf, but we’ll give it our all,” Italiano assured.