Bologna: Arriving slowly to the point of excellence

Riccardo Orsolini tapped the camera behind Empoli’s goal three times. It has become his customary celebration and he broke it out after giving Bologna the lead in the 21st minute of their Coppa Italia semi-final first leg. It was a goal that had been coming since Orsolini almost scored twenty minutes earlier at the end of a slaloming run through the Empoli defence.

Bologna went on to win 3-0 on a night that could have been overwhelming for any provincial club in Italy. Coppa Italia is set up in a way that means an Empoli-Bologna semi-final is a system error rather than merely the luck of the draw. In fact, the prospect of Empoli in a cup final is so off-putting for some that Saudi Arabia were reported to be reconsidering hosting next year’s Supercoppa because they didn’t fancy marketing a club like Empoli, as opposed to something sexier.

But still, Bologna did well to navigate a tie against a team playing its first ever cup semi-final, one that had beaten Juventus and Fiorentina on penalties to get there. Bologna also have the added pressure of their fans’ ever increasing expectations, most of whom won’t have seen the club’s last Coppa Italia final in 1974, which Bologna won after a penalty shoot-out.

They’ll need to hold their nerve repeatedly in these final eight weeks of 2024/25. Bologna sit 4th in Serie A, currently occupying the final Champions League spot (though Italy could yet see five teams qualify). 

The phrase ‘one-hit wonder’ is often used in a derogatory manner but producing one great moment can be enough sometimes. Luther Vandross sang ‘Never Too Much’ and cemented his name in music history forever. Michael Cimino made The Deer Hunter, won five Academy Awards and then was never heard of again.

Bologna’s 2023/24 season could - and by modern football’s standards should - have been a one-hit wonder. But it’s starting to look like it wasn’t a one-off.

Thiago Motta led them to 5th place last season, which saw them qualify for the Champions League for the first time in almost sixty years. Then he left for Juventus and tried to poach his best player Riccardo Calafiori, who ended up leaving the Premier League along with Joshua Zirkzee, Bologna’s star striker.

The overnight sensation of 2023/24 Serie A had lost its three fundamental stars, overnight, or so we thought. Motta’s replacement was Vincenzo Italiano who had just left Fiorentina after reaching two Conference League finals and the Coppa Italia final, all of which they had lost.

Italiano split opinion, some believing he overachieved in Florence and others feeling that he - like his team - spurned too many chances to make history in the past two seasons. One win from his first seven league matches with Bologna, plus an underwhelming start in the Champions League had Italiano’s detractors sharpening their knives in late October.

Perhaps he was Italian football’s equivalent of Graham Potter, a manager who did well at one club but couldn’t make the grade at a Champions League team. His tactics were flawed and his teams were wasteful in front of goal were among the accusations levelled at him.

Bologna won three league matches heading into the November international break and snuck into the top half. A gritty 1-0 derby win against Fiorentina in mid-December prompted wild celebrations from Italiano as he ran off down the tunnel on full-time. Some took it as a slight at his former employers but hindsight has me wondering if the performance and result gave Italiano confidence that it might just work for him at Bologna.

They haven’t looked back since, losing only once since the New Year and have won six of their last seven league matches, results that have taken them up to fourth. 

Foundations for this Bologna team were built in the summer of 2022 when Giovanni Sartori arrived as technical director from Atalanta. Sartori has a track record unlike most in football, having taken Chievo to Champions League qualification in 2006 and his eye for talent made Atalanta the club they are today.

Along with Appennine rivals Fiorentina, Bologna were perennial underachievers but Sartori’s vision has turned the club around, working with former Bologna forward turned sporting director Marco Di Vaio. 

Smart recruitment has taken Bologna from lower mid-table to the Champions League in two years. Buy low, sell high and hire a coach with a clear identity. It sounds easy but most teams fail miserably at it.

Sartori and Di Vaio were responsible for bringing Lewis Ferguson to the club for around £2m and you’d be lucky to get him for £30m now. They doubled their money on Calafiori and Zirkzee, but it’s not been solely an exercise in making money. This is a football club, not a hedge fund.

They have quietly built a side that functions remarkably well and punches above its weight. Not every signing has been data driven or plucked from thin air in an obscure European league. Remo Freuler joined from Nottingham Forest, a dependable midfielder with a wealth of experience from his time at Atalanta, where Sartori signed him in 2016.

The sale of Zirkzee brought about the signing of Thijs Dallinga from Toulouse, one of the players who hasn’t quite hit his mark just yet. But Bologna didn’t panic because the true Zirkzee replacement was signed in January 2024, while he was still at the club.

Santiago Castro joined for £6m from Velez Sarsfield in his native Argentina. Few batted an eye at some 19-year-old with a handful of senior matches under his belt. Just over a year later, he’s already being talked about as the next hot prospect to sign for a bigger club.

If Bologna can hold onto him for another season, they should expect any interested parties to add a zero to the fee Sartori paid for him. Dallinga could come good too. His compatriot Zirkzee only scored twice in an injury-strewn first season at Bologna, before exploding into life in 2023/24.

Patience has brought Bologna to this point. It’s something the city does remarkably well, being patient. One of its proper, traditional eateries, Osteria dell’Orsa, doesn’t take bookings and is almost always rammed, but they make waiting a worthwhile experience. Leave your name, go to the bar next door and they’ll give you a shout when your table’s ready. It’s never too long a wait, but time isn’t the issue.

Immediacy rarely equates to excellence. Like a great ragù alla bolognese, you must arrive slowly to the point of excellence. By allowing Thiago Motta time to interpret his ideas and work with tools Sartori gave him, they were able to make 2023/24 happen. The same composure in enduring a slow start under Italiano has them on the precipice of playing their part in redefining the traditional power structures of Italian football.

Their final eight matches look daunting. Napoli, Atalanta, Inter, Udinese, Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina and Genoa in that order. As tough as that run appears, it’s worth noting that, of those eight teams, only Napoli have beaten them this season and that was in August.

They may lose their coveted Champions League spot in a gruelling six weeks ahead, but would you bet against them at this point? If so, you’d be doing so at your peril.