Bukan AS Roma, Tetapi Bologna Yang Tembus Zona Liga Champions

Bologna beat AS Roma so they could enter the Champions League zone. (X/@BolognaFC1909en)

JAKARTA - AS Roma failed to penetrate the Champions League zone. On the other hand, Bologna, who did so after a 2-0 win over Roma in the Italian Serie A match at the Renato Dell'Ara Stadium, Monday, December 18 in the morning WIB.

Roma's unbeaten record for five matches ended already. Roma lost the last time on October 30, 2023. At that time, Jose Mourinho's troops had to admit the superiority of Inter Milan 1-0.

After that defeat, Roma showed consistency and always picked up points. They drew twice without a goal against Lazio in Derby d' Capitale and then detained Fiorentina 1-1. In the other three matches, the capital team always wins.

This impressive achievement made Roma step up to the top. But in the race for the top four slots against Bologna, they failed to meet the target.

The defeat left Roma stuck in seventh place with 25. While Bologna immediately shot up to fourth or entered the Champions League zone after pocketing 28. Only, Bologna is already 13 points behind the leaders of the standings, Inter Milan.

In that match, Roma could not field the best squad. Mourinho lost strikers Romelu Lukaku and Nicola Zalewski due to card accumulation. Meanwhile, Paulo Dybala still had to be sidelined due to injury.

Without them, Roma failed to show their dominance over Bologna. On the other hand, Bologna actually played more aggressively so that she could excel in possession of the ball.

"Without Paulo, the squad had no quality. Without Romelu the team had no advantage in terms of physical. When they weren't around, I knew we were going to have a hard time," said Mourinho.

"I said the players obviously wanted to play better and we had no problem with tactics. But we did have a lot of trouble, especially in the physical sector," he said. Former Chelsea and Manchester United manager admits Bologna played better. They excel everything so they deserve to win the game.

"Bologna has players who play with intensity, don't give up, and strong legs. We don't have that characteristic," said Mourinho again.

The match itself went tight. Bologna tried to suppress Roma's defense. Meanwhile, the Giallorossi, which is still unable to be strengthened by the mainstay centre-back Chris Smalling, was able to survive quite well.

Only the Bologna attack failed to be dammed by Roma. In the second half of the first half, the hosts finally managed to excel through midfielder Nikola Moro. He finished the assist from Dan Ndoye.

The goal created in the 37th minute was the first for Moro. The 1-0 score for Bologna lasted until the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, Bologna did not lower the tempo of the game. They immediately kicked off Roma's defense.

As a result, the game had only been running for four minutes, they were able to increase their advantage due to Rasmus Kristensen's own goal.

This could happen when Lewis Ferguson releases a cross. Ndoye actually failed to welcome the ball.

But Kristensen who wanted to throw the ball made a mistake. The ball hit his leg and slid into the net itself.

Score 2-0 to Bologna. There were no more goals in that match so Bologna closed the game with a two-goal advantage.