Vincenzo Italiano prepares Bologna for the Coppa Italia semi-final against Empoli

When today at 11 Vincenzo Italiano will gather his people at Casteldebole motivational speeches will not be necessary. It will be more useful to keep under control the effects of the post-triumph hangover on Inter, an inevitable aftermath of the Easter post-match, when none of the 32 thousand of the From the Ara, with the exception of the two thousand five hundred Inter fans in the away fans' curve, wanted to leave the stadium so as not to miss even a moment of the celebration.

But the party is already over and from today in Casteldebole we are thinking about how to deal with the return leg of the semi-final in the most painless way possible. Coppa Italia with theEmpoli, scheduled for Thursday night at the Dall'Ara (kick-off at 21pm) after the 3-0 at Castellani.

The first good news for Italiano should come from the more than probable return to the group of SkorupskiThe Polish goalkeeper had suffered a muscular problem on April 7 at the Dall'Ara against Napoli, having to leave the pitch that night halfway through the first half to make way for Ravaglia.

Skorupski missed the two league games against Atalanta and Inter, but has been back on the pitch regularly for a few days now. Italiano rightly didn't want to risk him against Inter, also challenging the desire to speed up the recovery time of the person directly involved: now we'll see if the coach will feel like handing the gloves back to Skorupski the day after tomorrow or if he'll prefer to be cautious, postponing his newfound starting role until the away league game in Udine.

From now until the end, the management of the centre forward will be the main focus. Castro, as we saw in the final minutes of the match against Inter, is still heavily affected by the foot contusion he suffered while playing for the national team, which is still causing him pain.

And Dallinga has to manage his pubalgia. Thursday against Empoli, with Casale, Calabria and Ferguson still out, it is possible that we will move towards a new handover between the Dutchman and the Argentine. Holm and Ndoye will certainly not play, as they are at risk of suspension in the Italian Cup. For this reason there will be a large turnover, in defence, in midfield and in the roles of attacking winger.

mv