Serie A | Empoli 0-1 Bologna - Fabbian wins it at the death

Giovanni Fabbian struck right at the depth for Bologna away to Empoli in Serie A on Friday evening, delivering a cruel blow to Davide Nicola and his side, who had looked set to earn a hard-fought draw against the Champions League chasers at the Castellani Stadium.

Bologna came into the tie ranked fourth in the Serie A standings, despite having tasted defeat to league leaders Inter last weekend. Thiago Motta had guided the Rossoblu to a six-game winning streak in the league before then,

Empoli, meanwhile, had lost two on the spin coming into Friday evening’s game, losing to Milan and Cagliari in their last two league games.

Bologna had to do without leading goalscorer Joshua Zirkzee on this occasion. The Dutchman is expected to be out of action for three to four weeks after suffering a set-back last weekend. Jens Odgaard was called up to replace him in the starting line-up.

Though lacking in clear and obvious opportunities, it was Bologna who enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the opening exchanges. Empoli’s Elia Caprile did very well to keep the scores level, producing a fine double-save shortly after an Alexis Saelemaekers corner on the 18th minute.

Kacper Urbanski had another go from a set-piece for Bologna 10 minutes after, but was also denied by Caprile, who had a marginally easier task this time around.

The finest chance for either side fell to Empoli’s M’Baye Niang with three minutes of regular time in the first half left to play. He was released by Nicolo Cambiaghi on the half-way line, with every Bologna outfielder camped in the opposition half.

Niang, unopposed, carried the ball right up to the edge of the Bologna area, where he inexplicably failed to get a shot away, allowing Sam Beukema back in to make a crucial sliding challenge, which resulted in an Empoli corner.

So good were Bologna at keeping hold of possession in the opening period, there wasn’t a single second of injury time played in the first half.

By the half-time whistle, Bologna ‘keeper Lukasz Skorupski had still not had a shot land on his target.

Riccardo Orsolini was introduced 10 minutes into the second period, coming on in place of Dan Ndoye on the Bologna wing.

Whatever Nicola had said to his Empoli players during the half-time interval had clearly had some sort of effect, as the home side came out much more urgent in the press and with far more control of their possession when they had it after the break.

Still though, there had been no more shots on target from either side by the 70th minute of action.

Bologna’s best chance of going ahead fell to Saelemaekers with just under 10 minutes of regular time left to go. Like Niang in the first half, the Belgian broke into space and towards the edge of the penalty area.

Saelemaekers was actually able to get a shot away, though, this time from the left hand side on the edge of the box, which was kept out brilliantly by the foot of Caprile.

Credit where it is due, Empoli were significantly improved in the second half, and despite not producing too many opportunities of their own, they certainly didn’t deserve to lose either.

However, there was always a feeling that Bologna may be capable of dealing a sickening blow to the home supporters. That sucker-punch came in the 94th minute.

Bologna, probably in their final attack of the game at that point, needed desperately to get the ball into the area for what looked to be their final shot of the game. Riccardo Calafiori launched a vemeous effort towards Caprile, who was only able to spill for substitute Fabbian to slam home on the rebound.

As a result, Empoli remain exactly where they were heading into the game on Friday: In 17th place with 25 points form 29 matches. All three teams in the relegation zone will play later this weekend.

Bologna, meanwhile, secure their position in the Champions League spots for another weekend, and are currently just four points behind Juventus in third place.