Bologna beat Napoli twice last season, so Stefano Pioli won’t be happy to sit back today. “We want to win!”
The Felsinei knocked them out of the Coppa Italia and earned a shock 3-2 victory at the San Paolo in Serie A, so are eager to continue surprising the Partenopei.
Bologna beat Napoli twice last season, so Stefano Pioli won’t be happy to sit back today. “We want to win!”
The Felsinei knocked them out of the Coppa Italia and earned a shock 3-2 victory at the San Paolo in Serie A, so are eager to continue surprising the Partenopei.
It kicks off at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for the match preview.
“When the fixture list was drawn up we said this represented a difficult and stimulating start,” explained Coach Pioli in his Press conference.
“We are meeting a team that finished second last term and have strengthened, so they can challenge Juventus for the Scudetto. As for Bologna, we want to play as a unit and maintain our identity even at the San Paolo.
“Against Napoli we have to run hard and smart while making as few mistakes as possible. Our trademark has to be concentration to get the best out of our potential.
“There is no such thing as an impossible match. We already proved that in the past.”
The Rossoblu have lost Alberto Gilardino, who returned to Genoa from his loan spell, but kept hold of Alessandro Diamanti.
“The economic potential of the top eight clubs cannot be bridged. The other 12 teams all want to achieve safety as soon as possible. However, I am tired of fighting for safety, as we want to win!
“I’m not saying it will be easy to finish ninth, but that in our mini-League of 12 we want to end up on top.”
Archimede Morleo, Niccolo Cherubin and Frederik Sorensen are out injured.
Bologna squad for Napoli: Agliardi, Curci, Stojanovic; Abero, Antonsson, Cech, Crespo, Ferrari, Garics, Natali; Della Rocca, Krhin, Laxalt, Pazienza, Perez, Radakovic; Acquafresca, Bianchi, Christodoulopoulos, Diamanti, Gimenez, Kone, Moscardelli