After experiencing differing fortunes in the cup this week, mid-table Bologna and winless Cremonese return to Serie A duty on Monday, at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
While the Rossoblu exited the Coppa Italia at its last-16 stage, their visitors upset the odds to topple Napoli and reach the quarter-finals - a rare sliver of success in an otherwise troubled season.
Match preview
© Reuters
While they may have lost again last weekend to remain rooted to the foot of the table, before relieving their manager of his duties, Cremonese at least caused a stir on Tuesday night, when they shocked the league leaders in Naples by winning a tense penalty shootout and securing a Coppa quarter-final tie against Roma.
Just two days after being appointed as the Grigiorossi's new head coach, Davide Ballardini steered his side to success despite being reduced to 10 men for the final 20 minutes of extra time - Charles Pickel and Felix Afena-Gyan had scored in either half to make the score 2-2.
Having being hired in the aftermath of Cremonese's 11th league loss of the season - a 3-2 defeat to fellow promoted side Monza - the well-travelled Ballardini took advantage of Napoli's much-changed lineup to begin his reign in some style at Stadio Maradona.
Former boss Massimiliano Alvini had departed Cremona with the team rock-bottom of the Serie A standings and yet to win a single league game since coming up from Serie B - Monday's fixture at Dall'Ara marks the halfway point of their season.
Ballardini has a happy knack of bringing about football's fabled 'new-manager bounce', and is unbeaten in five debut matches as a Serie A coach - his run featuring wins with Genoa, Lazio and Palermo and draws for both Cagliari and Bologna.
Before returning to his former club, the squad he now leads have lost each of their last four league matches - only twice in their history they lost more consecutive games in a single season. They are in for a grim relegation battle between now and June, currently sitting some nine points adrift of safety.
© Reuters
Set to meet Cremonese in Serie A for the first time since 1990, Bologna's last home loss to the Lombardy club in any competition was back in April 1987; albeit the teams' most recent competitive contest was a 2-2 draw nearly 17 years ago.
Though they could not match the Grigiorossi's Coppa Italia heroics on Thursday, when Lazio edged them out at Stadio Olimpico, Thiago Motta's men are in far better form than their visitors - particularly on home soil.
Bologna have won three of their last four fixtures at Dall'Ara, despite being defeated in the most recent one against Atalanta, and they also posted a rare away victory last weekend.
Taking advantage of Udinese's continued slump down the standings, the Rossoblu took all three points back to Emilia-Romagna after coming back from behind through goals from Nicola Sansone and Stefan Posch in the final half-hour.
While the top seven is almost certainly out of reach, and with it the prospect of an unlikely European qualification, Bologna are now just three points behind Udinese, who sit eighth, so can concentrate on at least achieving a top-half finish in the coming months.
Team News
© Reuters
After making several changes in the Coppa Italia, Thiago Motta will revert to a more familiar lineup on Monday, but his options are tempered by an overflowing treatment room.
Bologna are without Nicola Sansone (toe), Kevin Bonifazi (knee), Gary Medel (thigh) and Lorenzo De Silvestri (calf) due to injury, while star striker Marko Arnautovic is still a major doubt with a foot problem. Joshua Zirkzee or Musa Barrow should therefore deputise up front.
Central midfielder Nicolas Dominguez is back after serving a ban for accumulated yellow cards, though, and should join Jerdy Schouten in the hosts' engine room.
Meanwhile, Cremonese will have Leonardo Sernicola available for selection, after he was sidelined by suspension last weekend. The wing-back's extra-time dismissal against Napoli instead results in him missing the Coppa Italia quarter-final.
Veteran defender Vlad Chiriches is ruled out by injury once again, but Davide Ballardini otherwise has a full squad available on his latest Serie A comeback.
Following his cup heroics, Felix Afena-Gyan hopes for a rare start in support of Cyriel Dessers in attack - the Ghana international scored a late equaliser in Naples and then converted the decisive penalty in the shootout. His main competitor is David Okereke, who found the net in his only previous appearance at Dall'Ara for Venezia.
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Posch, Soumaoro, Lucumi, Lykogiannis; Dominguez, Schouten; Orsolini, Ferguson, Soriano; Barrow
Cremonese possible starting lineup:
Carnesecchi; Lochoshvili, Bianchetti, Ferrari; Sernicola, Pickel, Castagnetti, Meite, Valeri; Afena-Gyan, Dessers
We say: Bologna 0-1 Cremonese
Monday could finally herald Cremonese's first Serie A win since promotion, as injury-hit Bologna are somewhat short of firepower. With 10 goals conceded from set-pieces already this term - Cremonese's 11 is a league high - the hosts may be undone in that manner and find themselves unable to respond.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
