Bologna-Udinese: goalless draw in crucial Serie A clash

by correspondent Gianmarco Marchini

In the Dantean hell of this calendar, Udine's group was supposed to be the least hot. So much for that. In the flames of the Bluenergy Stadium the Bologna almost gets burned. Of course, it's all a question of perspective, starting with how you want to look at this draw, in a match placed after the clashes with Atalanta, Napoli, Inter and before Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina, with the Coppa Italia in between. Are you sure you're still going to pick on at this point after the nervous fatigue of a semi-final played on Thursday? Calm down.

The prospects, as we were saying, precisely. Here, if you rewind the tape backwards, the palm of the great disappointed goes to the rossoblù: Orsolini's diving header out with the goal wide open in the 89th minute, the free kick from the same number seven that crashes against the crossbar (67'), an endless series of corner kicks that rained down in the Friuli area. With the 'ifs', we would be here commenting on another stoic victory, at the end of an afternoon of such heat as to be seen in an advert against global warming.

Instead, there was no way around it, it ended 0-0: two points that went to dust and removed the asterisk from Juventus' overtaking in fourth place. The rossoblù are now fifth, one point behind the bianconeri who will come to Dall'Ara on Sunday evening in a final clash for the Champions League. In practice, while waiting for the Cup to be contested against Milan, it is another final for Vincenzo Italiano, who was suspended yesterday and confined to the stands, writhing and foaming in a box. A lion in a glass cage. His adrenaline on the sidelines was sorely missed to shake up a Bologna team that was visibly tired and incapable of dealing with the intensity of aUdinese visibly angry. Runjaic's Bianconeri were coming off five consecutive defeats and in front of their fans they were forced to at least sell their skin dearly. Mission accomplished because, especially in the first half, the hosts stunned Bologna, inhibiting their plots and overwhelming them in terms of pace. Right from the start, with Davis hitting the crossbar in the 3rd minute, on one of Lucumi's many blunders, who was definitely not having a good day.

On the other hand, Solet is definitely having a good day, and it is no coincidence that he was awarded man of the match at the end of the match. At the end of the championship, many will knock loudly on Udinese's doors for the French giant's contract. Santiago Castro is also enjoying a lot of market attention and would be very useful to Bologna, who are also without Ndoye. The Argentine, still slowed down by a sore foot, makes his importance clear in the ten minutes he manages to spend on the pitch, scoring the tower for the colossal chance missed by Orso. Dominguez, on the other hand, is not there and crumbles against the muscular Juventus defense. The 'cinno de oro' must level up in these heated weeks of the championship (learn from the nastiness with which his friend and compatriot Santi enters), just as Italiano desperately needs to find the best Odgaard again. The rossoblù leave Udine to the applause of the curve. Calm down: there is still plenty of time to make history.