Davide Ballardini makes his debut on the Bologna bench against his old club Lazio” data-scaytid=”3″>Lazio and their new Coach Edy Reja.
Davide Ballardini makes his debut on the Bologna bench against his old club Lazio and their new Coach Edy Reja.
It kicks off at the Stadio Dall’Ara at 19.45 GMT, click here for a match preview.
It has been a chaotic eight days for the two clubs who go head-to-head in Reggio-Emilia this evening.
Bologna sacked Stefano Pioli following a 2-0 defeat to Catania and brought in Ballardini, who makes his debut against his former club.
He gets a huge boost with the return of Alessandro Diamanti from suspension, though Francesco Della Rocca and Andrea Mantovani are now banned instead.
Rolando Bianchi partners Diamanti in attack, but watch out for the extraordinary ballistic capabilities of Panagiotis Kone, a man who never scores boring goals.
Lazio also sacked their tactician this month, taking legal action against Vladimir Petkovic for breach of contract.
Reja made his comeback with a very impressive 1-0 victory over Inter and hopes to continue reviving their fortunes.
Stefan Radu is suspended with Federico Marchetti and Lorik Cana injured, so Albanian Etrit Berisha is again in goal.
Senad Lulic is re-routed to cover for Radu at left-back, moving Felipe Anderson into Lulic’s usual wide left spot.
Miroslav Klose hopes to further add to his tally after netting the sensational winning volley against Inter.
Lazio are one of only three clubs without an away victory in Serie A this season, earning four draws from nine attempts.
Bologna: Curci; Antonsson, Natali, Cherubin; Garics, Christodoulopoulos, Pazienza, Kone, Morleo; Diamanti; Bianchi
Bologna bench: Stojanovic, Agliardi, Crespo, Cech, Radakovic, Laxalt, Perez, Krhin, Cristaldo, Moscardelli, Acquafresca
Lazio: Berisha; Cavanda, Biava, Dias, Lulic; Candreva, Ledesma, Gonzalez, Hernanes, Anderson; Klose
Lazio bench: Strakosha, Guerrieri, Ciani, Novaretti, Pereirinha, Vinicius, Biglia, Onazi, Ederson, Keita, Perea, Floccari