Thiago Motta finally admits Bologna are ‘close’ to Champions League qualification, but that also means ‘the squad needs to be reinforced’ for next season.
The Rossoblu have mathematically qualified for European football after a 22-year absence and would seem to be doing it through the front door of the biggest tournament in club football, the Champions League.
They are four points clear of Roma in fourth place and feeling confident enough to confess they are heading for the major competition.
“We are very happy to have written Bologna’s history after 22 years and feel the same way about this opportunity to get into the Champions League,” said the coach in his press conference.
“There’s not long to go now, we are close. We’re already where nobody expected us to be and glad to have this objective, I agree with my players 100 per cent that we have to go for it.”
Bologna are in action on Friday May 3 with a trip to Torino, kicking off at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
“The pressure is all on the other clubs who started the season with the objective of the Champions League. We never had this obsession, just the desire to keep improving. Achieving the Europa League qualification was unexpected and brought us even more enthusiasm, now we want to keep going and try to do something even more remarkable with the Champions League.”
Thiago Motta apologises
Thiago Motta apologised for his comments following games against Udinese and Monza, insisting he had “not intended to create controversy, nor seek alibis. I was just pointing out criticism of a mentality and some behaviour I saw on the pitch.”
The focus inevitably turns to the future at Bologna, as Thiago Motta’s current contract expires on June 30 and he has been heavily linked with a move to Juventus or even Chelsea.
If he does remain at the Stadio Dall’Ara, do they have to reinforce the squad?
“We have not talked about it, but we have seen many times there are teams who win and then in order to maintain that level, they have to improve, reinforce and strengthen. We are thinking of raising the bar even more, but these are situations we’ll think about later on.”