BOLOGNA, ITALY – APRIL 09: Vincenzo Italiano, Head Coach of Bologna, looks on during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 Quarter-Final Leg One match between Bologna FC 1909 and Aston Villa FC at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on April 09, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Vincenzo Italiano is frustrated by the same old Bologna mistakes in a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa, but insists their opponents ‘will win the Europa League, as they made the most of everything.’
It was a disappointing night at the Stadio Dall’Ara, but above all an unlucky one that showed many of the same problems we’ve seen all season from the Rossoblu.
They were wasteful in attack as well as being unfortunate, hitting the woodwork twice and seeing a Santiago Castro goal disallowed because his toe was offside.
In comparison, Aston Villa were clinical and made the most of defensive errors, first with Ezri Konsa as Federico Ravaglia flapped at a corner, then Ollie Watkins after the usual mistake playing out from the back.
Jonathan Rowe did pull one back to give hope going into the second leg, which was immediately snatched away again when Watkins was left unmarked on a corner in stoppages.
Italiano frustrated by Bologna errors
“We were in the game from start to finish, we saw what we expected from them, but if you make certain mistakes against them, you will be punished,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.
“If you gift two or three goals, you are going to inevitably struggle, both on the night and in the tie. Now we’ll see what happens in the second leg, but the performance was strong, we caused problems for a team of a truly high value.
“I think tonight we saw confirmation of what I thought beforehand, which is that Aston Villa will win the Europa League. Congratulations to them, because they made the most of absolutely everything we let slip, despite a good performance from Bologna.”
It was noted that Aston Villa don’t particularly press, and that the Rossoblu in turn were worried about pressing them too.
“If they put the ball over the top and move so many players into space, it can be damaging,” explained Italiano.
“Before the match, I told the lads these are situations where you mustn’t be superficial in any situation, whether it’s giving away a corner or a loose pass, because this team will punish you at the slightest error. Unfortunately, that’s what happened.
“The first goal was from a throw-in taken by Rowe, who shouldn’t have had it in his hands, and it changed the inertia of the game. On the second goal, we were playing out from the back and made a mistake. We just can’t seem to have a full game without errors.”
Bologna have a mountain to climb with the second leg of this quarter-final at Villa Park in Birmingham, where they already lost 2-0 in October 2024 and 1-0 earlier this season in the Europa League.
In both those matches, they again failed to convert their chances and were punished for errors, so it is a recurring pattern.
“We made too many mistakes this season, not just tonight, we never manage to go a full 90 minutes with total concentration, there is always an error or a distraction. The crucial moments of the game are either side of half-time and in the final minutes, and we conceded goals in all of them,” confessed Italiano.
“It’s frustrating, because when you see how many chances we created against the level of opposition, we did good things tonight.”
Does Italiano still have hope for the second leg?
“It would be a sporting miracle to turn this around, but as we saw yesterday with Barcelona losing to Atletico Madrid, anything can happen. It’s particularly odd in Europe, because sometimes you get referees who don’t whistle at all, others they give cards for the slightest contact.
“Admittedly, 2-1 would’ve been a different result, even if they have a different gear on their own turf, but we’ll give it our all,” assured Italiano.
