Sinisa Mihajlovic paraphrased Jose Mourinho when preparing Bologna’s encounter with Napoli, but continued the feud with ‘dishonest’ Cagliari. ‘Zero alibis.’
It kicks off at the Stadio Dall’Ara on Monday at 17.30 GMT.
The Rossoblu are badly depleted by injuries, Africa Cup of Nations duty and COVID-19, with some situations still in flux.
Nico Dominguez, Aaron Hickey, Adama Soumaoro and Nicola Sansone return, but Riccardo Orsolini is ruled out by a dislocated shoulder.
Mihajlovic continued his feud with Cagliari after the defeat, with the squad rushed out of quarantine amid a COVID outbreak.
“A coach who is a friend of mine said many years ago ‘Zero titles.’ Well, I say ‘Zero alibis.’ Walter Mazzarri said I was moaning about players being out of action, but that’s not true, we played knowing full well the situation we were in,” said Mihajlovic in his press conference.
“Cagliari were sneaky, because sport is meant to be about honesty and Cagliari were not honest. The safety of the players was not guaranteed.
“Now we have to look forward, it’s going to be an intriguing game and we are ready to play now. I’ve said I hope Napoli win the Scudetto, so I hope they lose tomorrow and then win all the other matches!
“We have the players who had COVID back now, but they had one training session. Gary Medel asks me to play, but I cannot run that risk from the start. Dominguez might require surgery, in which case he’d be out for three months, but nothing has been decided yet. He’s available for now.”
Mihajlovic also spoke about his own future at the Stadio Dall’Ara.
“I feel good, I want to stay here and that is my primary objective. I want to be that something Bologna are missing.”