Bologna 1-4 Hellas Verona..reaction

Hellas win again and deservedly so.

THE GAME

Considering the first few fixtures, this was the first test against a side expected to finish in the middle of the table, despite Bologna finding themselves in the relegation places. Verona fans travelled in large numbers and arrived in the town early due to the lack of trains running between the two towns today.

Upon arriving in Bologna, Hellas fans were marched to the stadium. but others walked away from the main group. It was one of these groups that was attacked by Bologna fans armed with knives and bottles, leaving two fans hospitalised after being stabbed. This caused tension and clashes between the two sets of fans. Because of this, the main road towards the stadium was closed, meaning the team coach had to be diverted to some B roads, meaning kick-off was delayed by 20 minutes due to the team bus not arriving in time.

The game itself was perhaps the perfect away performance and showed Mandorlini for what he is, a brave coach and one who can work out teams weaknesses and expose them. Playing a 4-3-3 with Iturbe and Gomez each side of Toni, the pace of Hellas' attacks caught Bologna napping and the goals by Cacciatore and Iturbe were of no surprise. Despite Bologna then attacking after the break and scoring via a Diamanti penalty, Verona soon dominated again and scored via Toni and right at the end Jorginho. Verona had many more clear chances, the worst culprits being Jorginho and Toni. The player of the match was Iturbe, showing creativity, pace and scored a wonderful goal from 25 yards for 2-0. Upon being substituted, he even was applauded off by some Bologna fans who appreciated his excellent performance.  The win lifts us to 5th, an incredible feat. Although the season is young, it puts more points between us and the relegation spots, with important games against Parma and Inter coming up.

QUOTES

MANDORLINI- "We are back in Serie A after a very long time, we wanted to feed that enthusiasm and we are succeeding and we hope this can continue. We are very, very happy with the league position." Speaking about Iturbe "He's a boy of great prospect and Verona is the perfect stage for him to show his talents."

ITURBE- "We wanted to win and we achieved our goal. It was harder than it seemed because Bologna are a team fighting at the bottom. We live in a magical moment, but lets take things game by game."

TONI- "We're in a great period but lets not forget the target, which remains salvation. Iturbe? Playing with him is very good, he can have an important future."

PIOLI (COACH BOLOGNA)- "It was the worst performance of my time here at Bologna. I take full responsibility but I remain convinced we will succeed. Credit to Verona, they attacked well and closed down the spaces."

SIDENOTES
After missing a few games with injury, Mimmo Maietta returned to the team for todays game, but exited with another injury, straining his right calf muscle. The next few days will evaluate his recovery time.

Pre-match news..Hellas-Sassuolo

News ahead of the third game of the season

INJURIES- Hellas held a closed training session on Thursday, with two major injury doubts. Defender Albertazzi will 99% miss the game, whilst forward Luca Toni is a major doubt after picking up a muscle strain early in the week.

OPPONENTS- Sassuolo will miss two key players, Marrone and Berardi. This significantly makes the neroverde weaker as they look for their first win of the season (losing to Torino 0-2 and Livorno at 'home' 1-4) Defender Marcello Gazzola said "The season has started, but our campaign begins in Verona. Their fans always make a difference, but on the field it's 11 vs 11"

REFEREE- Massimiliano Irrati of Pistoia (Tuscany) will take charge of the Bentegodi game. He ironically took charge of last seasons 1-1 draw between the clubs in Modena, giving Hellas a penalty (which Gomez missed). His overall record when taking charge of Verona games is..Games 11..Verona wins 6..draws 4..lost 1.

Preparing for Sassuolo

News and views in the run-up to next weekends game at Bentegodi..

Mandorlini- "The break has been useful in allowing us to rest after intense pre-season and first two games. The market has been great, Iturbe gives us some pace that Martinho aside we were missing.
Sassuolo attack well, they haven't had a great start to the season but it's only two games, they won't panic."

Injury news- Bomber Luca Toni missed the friendly game against the Primavera side, he has been working in the swimming pool after a small muscle injury. The medical team will evaluate him in the run up to the Sassuolo match.

Icelandic midfielder Emil Hallfredsson returned back early from international duty after problems with his knee and will continue the recovery this week. Jorginho is also on a differing training routine as he battles to be fit for next weekend. Albertazzi and Agostini continue their recovery from injury, whilst the only certainty to miss the game is Cirigliano who has had dental work.

Laner- "A win against Sassuolo will be worth double in our fight for safety. The results have been good so far, beating Milan was great, losing to Roma is no disgrace."