Roma rotated the squad and paid the price, as they were unable to break down rugged Bologna, the best chances falling to Marash Kumbulla, Carles Perez and Lorenzo De Silvestri.
The Giallorossi revamped their squad between the Europa Conference League semi-finals after the 1-1 draw away to Leicester City. Sergio Oliveira was suspended and Henrikh Mkhitaryan injured, while Tammy Abraham, Rick Karsdorp, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Nicola Zalewski rested. Bologna also played midweek, beating Inter 2-1 in the rescheduled Week 20 fixture, postponed from January due to a COVID outbreak, with coach Sinisa Mihajlovic still in hospital for leukaemia treatment.
Roma had penalty appeals within 50 seconds, as Gary Medel charged down the Carles Perez cross with his chest and possibly also an arm, but VAR did not intervene because the footage was not clear.
More appeals were also rejected when Ainsley Maitland-Niles went down, as he appeared to trip over his own feet rather than the Bologna player.
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Marko Arnautovic tested Rui Patricio, while Zaniolo stung Lukasz Skorupski’s gloves after a Maitland-Niles counter-attack, Felix Afena-Gyan offside when prodding the rebound wide.
Skorupski had to work hard with another absolutely ferocious Carles Perez strike from distance, while Gianluca Mancini needed a tricky interception as Denso Kasius rode two tackles and rolled across for Riccardo Orsolini.
Rui Patricio also rushed off his line to close down Orsolini, who might’ve been offside anyway.
Felix ran onto a through ball, but went down after a heavy touch, prompting a red card for dissent for Mourinho’s assistant Nuno Santos, while Orsolini had penalty appeals rejected for a Marash Kumbulla shirt-tug.
Roma were not making much impact, so Mourinho made a quadruple substitution. Arnautovic had a big chance, getting between centre-backs to flick a ball over the top off target, while Nico Dominguez curled just wide.
Skorupski made a simply fantastic reaction save to claw Kumbulla’s header off the line from a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner.
Tammy Abraham managed to turn Medel on a Mancini through ball, only to scuff the finish just wide.
Bologna went very close to a winner at the 87th minute, Musa Barrow’s cross finding Lorenzo De Silvestri’s header at the back post, forcing a Rui Patricio save from point-blank range.
Pellegrini almost won it in style in stoppages with a sensational volley that flashed just over the bar. Musa Barrow then hit the crossbar, but was flagged offside.
Roma 0-0 Bologna