Italiano rues ‘naive’ Bologna red card against Lazio | OneFootball

Vincenzo Italiano admits the Tommaso Pobega red card completely ruined Bologna’s game plan in a 3-0 defeat to Lazio. ‘We had warned everyone how important it was to avoid these cards.’

The Rossoblu had come into the Stadio Olimpico full of confidence after three consecutive Serie A victories, but the game was transformed at the 35th minute.

Tommaso Pobega was already on a yellow card when he went into a high press too enthusiastically, clattering into the back of Matteo Guendouzi for an inevitable second booking.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Italiano cannot judge Bologna down to 10 men

ROME, ITALY – NOVEMBER 24: Samuel Gigot of Lazio (L) scores his team’s first goal during the Serie A match between SS Lazio and Bologna at Stadio Olimpico on November 24, 2024 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

“Unfortunately, it is very difficult to deal with it when you are down to 10 men that early,” Italiano told DAZN.

“It was naïve, I feel bad for Tommy, he had been playing well and we had warned everyone how important it was to avoid these cards.

“Then once you are down to 10, you have to run even harder to chase everyone down and we have another game coming up on Wednesday, so it makes it more difficult for everyone in the squad.”

Even then, Bologna did well to hang on until the floodgates opened with a Samuel Gigot header from a corner at the 68th minute, followed by Mattia Zaccagni’s curler and a third from Fisayo Dele-Bashiru deep into stoppages.

This was only the second Bologna defeat of the season in Serie A after another 3-0 away to Napoli on August 25.

They must now prepare for Wednesday’s Champions League encounter with Lille at the Stadio Dall’Ara.

“Now we must concentrate on Wednesday and hope to get a result, but clearly we need to work on the details, be more careful and not make these same mistakes against Lille,” concluded Italiano.