Bologna caused a huge upset with a 3-0 victory away to local rivals Sassuolo, decided by well-taken Riccardo Orsolini and Aaron Hickey goals, before a late Federico Santander tap-in.
This is an Emilia-Romagna Derby with both teams going into the final weekend of 2021 locked together on 24 points. The Neroverdi missed Andrea Consigli, Matheus Henrique, Filip Djuricic and Filippo Romagna, fresh from fumbling a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at Fiorentina. The Rossoblu were without Jerdy Schouten, while Lorenzo De Silvestri was not at 100 per cent.
Sassuolo had a huge opportunity on seven minutes, Gianluca Scamacca’s angled drive fingertipped onto the base of the far post by Lukasz Skorupski.
The goalkeeper had his gloves stung by Davide Frattesi, but Bologna took the lead when Riccardo Orsolini sprung the offside trap on a ball over the top, controlled and smashed in at the near top corner from a tricky angle with his left boot.
The Neroverdi were visibly shaken and just as Rogerio risked an own goal on the Andreas Skov-Olsen roll across, Bologna doubled their lead from the resulting corner. It was taken short to the edge of the area, where Aaron Hickey struck first-time with the inside of the right foot into the top corner.
It was almost 3-0 after the restart, Gianluca Pegolo keeping out an Orsolini header and Adama Soumaoro’s follow-up cleared off the line, although it probably would’ve been disallowed for offside using VAR.
Pegolo also flew for a one-handed save on another Hickey curler from the edge of the area, while Roberto Soriano also tested the shot-stopper.
Domenico Berardi tried to pull back from the by-line and Scamacca’s header was plucked out of the air, while Skorupski again got his fingertips to a Berardi curler at the near top corner and Giacomo Raspadori snapshot.
Musa Barrow should’ve had another for Bologna when sent clear by Emmanuel Vignato, but couldn’t beat Pegolo one-on-one.
There was a third with the last kick of the game, Vignato rolling across for Federico Santander, who got there before Pegolo with his back to goal and managed to turn in from six yards.
Sassuolo 0-3 Bologna
Orsolini 36 (B), Hickey 44 (B), Santander 94 (B)