A Yann Karamoh goal in the first half was enough for Torino to earn all three points in a home Serie A game against Bologna.
The Granata have reacted to last week’s loss in the Turin derby, while the Rossoblu ended their three-game winning streak away.
The hosts had the first chance of the match at the Stadio Grande Torino but saw Lukasz Skorupski stick out a trailing leg to deny Antonio Sanabria. However, Torino’s opener was just around the corner.
Ivan Juric’s men put their noses ahead thanks to Karamoh who dribbled two Bologna defenders in tight space inside the box, finding the net at the near post.
The France striker had another good chance after the break, he won an aerial duel with a Bologna defender after a free-kick but sent the resulting header wide.
Bologna slowly started to emerge and had their first meaningful chance with Musa Barrow whose shot was easily blocked by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
Riccardo Orsolini, the most prolific Italian player in Europe’s top 5 leagues in 2023, wasted Bologna’s best chance a few minutes later seeing Torino defender Perr Schuurs performing a timely recovery run to prevent him from kicking the ball from the edge of the box with only Milinkovic-Savic in front of him.
Mërgim Vojvoda could have doubled Torino’s lead but didn’t finalise a quick counter-attack, sending his header over the bar from an excellent position.
The Granata are now just one point below a European placement which is currently occupied by their city rivals Juventus, level on 35 points with Thiago Motta’s Bologna.
Torino 1-0 Bologna
Goal: 22′ Karamoh (T)
Torino (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic Savic; Djidji, Schuurs, Buongiorno; Singo (72′ Aina), Linetty, Ilic, Rodriguez (72′ Vojvoda); Miranchuk, Karamoh (72′ Radonjic); Sanabria (86′ Seck).
Bologna (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; Posch, Lucumì, Sosa (79′ Kyriakopoulos), Cambiaso; Schouten, Moro; Orsolini, Ferguson, Soriano (57′ Zirkzee); Barrow.
dogged Torino. not great to watch but very tough to play against. bologna were poor.
Yes, it wasn’t a great game yesterday. Sassuolo-Cremonese much better!