Tonight is a huge night for Bologna and Vincenzo Italiano. Bologna will play Milan in the final of the Coppa Italia in the Stadio Olimpico with the chance of winning their first piece of major silverware since 1973-74, when they also had won the same trophy.
For Italiano in particular, this is a monumental occassion. He has been extremely unlucky in finals of late. As the manager of Fiorentina, he had been involved in multiple final losses over recent years. He lost the Coppa Italia final to Inter in 2022-23 and lost two UEFA Conference finals in 2022-23 to West Ham and 2023-24 to Olympiakos.
Everyone expected Bologna to decline massively this season, after Thiago Motta and key players like Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori left post a very successful season, in the summer. But Italiano has not let this affect the club at all, as they sit 7th and well primed for another run in Europe.
But the focus for now is on the final against Milan. As Italiano said in his press conference, โAfter 51 years, Bologna will play such an important game again. We will try to take another step towards history.โ
Kaulik Mitra | GIFN
