Riccardo Orsolini’s half-volley into the roof of the net gave Bologna victory, as Inter once again saw Scudetto hopes vanish at the Stadio Dall’Ara, falling 18 points behind leaders Napoli.
The Scudetto was effectively lost here last season with a Ionut Radu howler, but their hopes this term were already slim thanks to unstoppable Napoli. Federico Dimarco, Milan Skriniar and Joaquin Correa were injured, with Nicolò Barella, Edin Dzeko and Francesco Acerbi rested after the Champions League win over FC Porto midweek, so Marcelo Brozovic got his first start since November. The hosts missed Marko Arnautovic, Joshua Zirkzee, Nicola Sansone and Kevin Bonifazi, with Adama Soumaoro only fit for the bench.
The conditions were not ideal, with heavy rain, a drenched pitch and strong, freezing winds. Bologna had the ball in the net after 12 minutes with Musa Barrow’s angled drive, but it was disallowed because Nico Dominguez was in an offside position and jumped out of the way to let it through. Earlier in the move, Matteo Darmian also charged down a Lewis Ferguson strike with his trailing arm, but it was judged to be in a natural position during the same on-field VAR review.
Moments later, Andre Onana had his gloves stung by Andrea Cambiaso and then Roberto Soriano smashed it against the crossbar on the follow-up.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan blasted wide and Hakan Calhanoglu fired straight at Lukasz Skorupski before Lautaro Martinez’s header just wide. Riccardo Orsolini’s free kick sailed over the bar for the last kick of the half.
Calhanoglu slipped at the crucial moment to fire over from a Robin Gosens pull-back, while Barrow and Dominguez were unable to make the most of the Orsolini ball rolled across from the right.
Lukaku prodded straight at Skorupski after a Jhon Lucumi error, but Edin Dzeko did better with a powerful volley parried from 10 yards and Barrow had his counter-attack saved by Onana at the near post.
Moments later, Inter gave the ball away cheaply again with Danilo D’Ambrosio, Jerdy Schouten immediately floated the ball in for Orsolini, who controlled with his chest and thumped the half-volley into the roof of the net.
Lucumi charged down a Brozovic effort, Lautaro Martinez drilled wide and Gosens stung Skorupski’s gloves in stoppages, but it’s another Scudetto dream-ending defeat at the Dall’Ara for Inter.
Bologna 1-0 Inter
Orsolini 76 (B)
Player statistic
| 45+1' |  |
Stefan de Vrij |
| 63' | |
Denzel Dumfries | ||
| Riccardo Orsolini (Assist: Jerdy Schouten) |
 |
76' | ||
| Nicolás Domínguez | |
85' |
Match statistic
