Bologna will face Milan in their first Coppa Italia Final for 51 years, as today’s 2-1 victory over Empoli consolidated a 5-1 aggregate triumph in the semi-final.
The Rossoblu already had one foot in the Final thanks to the 3-0 first leg victory, but still fielded a strong XI just days after the last-gasp Serie A victory over Inter sent them into fourth place. Emil Holm, Lukasz Skorupski, Lewis Ferguson and Nicolò Casale missed out, with Santiago Castro still not fully fit. Empoli were without Youssef Maleh, Christian Kouame, Ardian Ismajli, Nicolas Haas, Pietro Pellegri and Szymon Zurkowski. The Tuscans knocked Torino, Fiorentina and Juventus out of the Coppa Italia, yet were without a League win in 2025.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
It took just seven minutes to extend the aggregate lead, as a corner was punched as far as Nikola Moro, who got down the right to stand up a cross for the Giovanni Fabbian free header from six yards.
Jacopo Seghetti pushed a Charalampos Lykogiannis strike over from a tricky angle, then stuck out a boot to deny the Thijs Dallinga tap-in at the back post from a corner.
However, Empoli got their first goal of the tie when Junior Sambia sent Ola Solbakken through and his ferocious effort was parried into the path of Viktor Kovalenko.
Seghetti’s gloves were stung by Fabbian from the edge of the area, but Sambia risked a straight red card for his lunge on Lykogiannis.
Benjamin Dominguez twice found himself in a perfect position to shoot, only to hesitate and let the chance go begging, while the third time his half-volley from the edge of the box flew just over.
Dallinga just failed to redirect the deflected Estanis Pedrola effort on target from close range, while Moro also saw his strike pushed over by a defensive interception.
On the resulting corner, Lykogiannis stood up a trademark cross from the left for Dallinga to steer the header back across the goalkeeper.
Bologna 2-1 Empoli (5-1 agg)
Fabbian 7 (B), Kovalenko 33 (E), Dallinga 86 (B)
Player statistic
| Giovanni Fabbian (Assist: Nikola Moro) |
 |
7' | ||
| 19' |  |
Mattia De Sciglio | ||
| 20' | |
Luca Marianucci | ||
| 33' | |
Viktor Kovalenko | ||
| Riccardo Orsolini | |
45+1' |
| 59' | |
Junior Sambia | ||
| Thijs Dallinga (Assist: Charalabos Lykogiannis) |
|
86' |
Match statistic
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