Riccardo Orsolini leads Bologna to the Coppa Italia final against Milan

Bologna, 12 May 2025 – Ace of Cups (8 goals in 13 appearances in the Coppa Italia since he has worn the Bologna jersey), top scorer of the season, leader of the group. Without resorting to irreverent comparisons, he is the Orsolini one and triune. If it is true that Bologna has arrived at the crucial challenges of the season with slightly flat tires and on Wednesday night at the Olimpico will have to go all out to try to win the mother of all matches, namely the Coppa Italia final against Milan, in Casteldebole there are those who seem to have started the season yesterday, so much is their excellent health.

No, Riccardo Orsolini da Rotella (Ascoli) does not possess the elixir of long life. Simply at 28 years old he has acquired a technical and psychological maturity that this season has allowed him to knock on Luciano Spalletti's door 15 times already. But the challenge that matters most is not the one with the blue coach but the one at the Olimpico: by beating Milan and raising the Coppa Italia to the sky, Orso could open the doors of the pantheon of history to his teammates. In fact, he is already in that pantheon. With the goal scored on Friday night against Milan, the attacking winger has reached 13 in the championship, to which must be added the 2 goals scored in the Coppa Italia. His total of eight seasons in red and blue is 71. Tied in sixteenth place is 'Medeo' Biavati, the man of the double step, now in the crosshairs is Bernardo Perin, the baker from Piazza Malpighi who in the 20s was the protagonist of the first two red and blue championships.

History, precisely: the one that Italiano hopes Orso can also write on Wednesday at the Olimpico. Question: how many times in his career has Orsolini managed to be a bomber at the Olimpico? Three times: twice against Roma and once when the opponent was Lazio. Lazio-Bologna 3-3, May 20, 2019, the night in which Sinisa Mijhajlovic's Bologna secured their mathematical safety after a lion's second half of the season. There is also the signature of a goal by Orso.

Orsolini instead punished the Giallorossi Olimpico on two occasions, coinciding with two carbon copy victories by 3-2: it happened on 7 February 2020 and on 10 November 2024, in the first leg of Roma-Bologna. With Italy instead Orso (7 appearances in total) has never set foot on the pitch of the Olimpico.

On Wednesday, however, he will be there, as an announced starter, and on that pitch he will listen to Mameli's anthem, experiencing internal vibrations even greater than those given to him by the Champions League theme tune. Change the music, but it's always up to Orso to shoulder the weight of the rossoblù attack.

Hoping that the recovered Ndoye, on the other flank, remembers that before getting injured this year he was also a bomber. Today the last training session is scheduled at Casteldebole: in the afternoon the team will then reach Rome.

Meanwhile yesterday at Dall'Ara the groups of the curve have done the dress rehearsal of the Olimpico choreography: special effects, but the contents are kept top secret. And an appeal to the thirty thousand Bolognese of the Olimpico: Wednesday meeting at 16,30:XNUMX pm at Ponte Milvio for a short procession to the entrance of the Curva Nord. Among other things from the Curva Andrea Costa, we read in their flyer, the invitation to treat the capital's stadium well: "The Olimpico is not our home, but let's treat it as if it were" in addition to the invitation to maintain respectful behavior both outside and inside the stadium without in particular graffiti and gratuitous damage.