Marko Arnautovic scored both goals to beat Sampdoria 2-0 and was denied a hat-trick by the crossbar, as Bologna ended their five-round winless streak.
The Blucerchiati were not entirely safe from the drop yet, missing Sebastian Giovinco, Manolo Gabbiadini and Mikkel Damsgaard, losing four of their last five games. Sinisa Mihajlovic was still in hospital undergoing treatment after the return of his leukaemia, keeping in contact via videolink with his staff and players. Lorenzo De Silvestri was injured, but Gary Medel played despite a nasty cut from a clash of heads with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Emil Audero used his legs to parry Arnautovic’s angled drive at the near post, while Musa Barrow’s strike from distance dipped just over the bar.
Aaron Hickey curled inches wide of the far post with the inside of the left boot after an Arnautovic back-heel flick.
Samp had their first real chance at the dawn of the second half, the goalkeeper’s long kick allowing Ciccio Caputo to shrug off Adama Soumaoro, only to be denied by Lukasz Skorupski rushing off his line.
The deadlock was broken when the two wing-backs combined, Aaron Hickey’s cross finding Mitchell Dijks to knock it back at the far post, Arnautovic reacting quicker than defenders to bundle over the line from close range.
This allowed Arnautovic to become only the third Austrian player to score 10 goals in a single Serie A season, after Engelbert Koenig for Lazio in 1946-47 and Ernst Ocwirk for Sampdoria in 1956-57.
He almost had another on 70 minutes, his wonderful first touch and half-volley from the edge of the box smacking against the frame of the goal.
Incredibly, Nicola Sansone also rattled the crossbar moments later when sent clear by an inspired Arnautovic pass on the counter-attack.
Bologna got their deserved second goal with Arnautovic again. He started the move, spread it to Dijks down the left, Maya Yoshida made a mess of the interception and the striker shifted the ball with the sole of his boot to get away from Omar Colley and score from 10 yards. Each of the last five goals scored by Bologna were credited to Arnautovic.
Sansone really should’ve passed to unmarked Arthur Theate on the counter, but was greedy and saw his attempt charged down instead. Fabio Quagliarella at least got a Samp shot on target in stoppages, albeit straight at Skorupski.
Bologna 2-0 Sampdoria
Arnautovic 61, 76 (B)
Bologna dominated Sampdoria and drew with Milan. Inter should be in high mood to beat Bologna in rescheduled match.
I honestly don’t see Inter winning the rescheduled match. It won’t surprise me if Arnautovic would be the one to score and deny Inter victory.