The numbers behind Bologna’s brilliant season | OneFootball

In the last six days, Thiago Motta’s Bologna have beaten Roma, Inter and Atalanta. We’re going to take a look at the numbers behind the wins that have put them in a strong position for a Champions League place.Last Sunday they were at home against Roma and came out 2-0 victors. They got the job done with two quick goals either side of half time. The stats were surprising though as they had less xg than Roma, 0.52 vs 0.60. Both sides had eight shots, Bologna with two on target and Roma with three. It was defensively where they dominated, as the stats showed. They won 54% of duels in comparison to Roma’s 46%. They also won 83% of their tackles whereas Roma only won 33% of theirs.The Rossoblu then moved on to a midweek Coppa Italia clash with Inter. It was an away round of 16 game but they still ran out 2-1 victors. The game went to extra time at 0-0 and Inter struck first. Goals in the 112th and 116th minute however saw Bologna over the line. The xg stats in this game were a complete mismatch. Inter accumulated an xg of 2.76 in comparison to Bologna’s 0.69. Bologna were well beaten on most stats and this game was much more of a smash and grab, but they won’t care as they are through to the quarter finals where they will play Fiorentina.Finally, in what was a busy week, they today beat Atalanta 1-0 at home to go fourth in the league. Once again they were beaten on xg and the stats accurately depicted a close game. Lewis Ferguson headed home from a corner in the 86th minute to win the game for the home side.

Thiago Motta has rightly been receiving a lot of praise for the job he has been doing and is attracting attention from many of the top teams in Europe.Bologna’s week means that they are on 31 points from 17 games played and sit fourth, one point above Fiorentina. They are only two points behind Milan. They have the third best defensive record in the league and have overall had a brilliant season so far.

Japtej Ghura | GIFN