Italiano frustrated at Bologna draw: ‘Won’t make the same mistake again’

Vincenzo Italiano feels the red card against Niccolò Cambiaghi was harsh, but it’s also ‘a mistake he won’t make again’ after Bologna were held by Como down to 10 men.

The Rossoblu had been leading at the Stadio Sinigaglia through a goal from Cambiaghi when the same player was sent off using VAR for a reaction foul on Ignace van der Brempt, raising an elbow to the player who barged into the back of him.

That allowed Como to pour forward, snatching the equaliser with a sensational Martin Baturina curler into the top corner at the 94th minute.

“We are partly back,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia, as Bologna are now without a win in six Serie A games.

“There had already been signs against Atalanta, but we should not have made the mistake of going down to 10 men, and then this world-class goal did not allow us to take all three points home.

“I did see more promising signals from my team for most of the match, and we will work hard to rediscover winning ways. When playing against Como, you need to be quick and close down the spaces when they have the ball.”

Bologna did reach the Supercoppa Italiana Final, losing 2-0 to Napoli after eliminating Inter on a penalty shoot-out.

“We did get a bit complacent after the Supercoppa, but we came back today. Mentality so often makes all the difference,” assured the coach.

There was some debate about the Cambiaghi red card, as the referee had originally only given a yellow and ignored the Van Der Brempt barge in the back.

Following the VAR review, he booked the Como player and changed his decision on Cambiaghi to a red.

“In my view, it was not an elbow worthy of a red card, but in any case you shouldn’t put the referee in a position to evaluate that sort of thing,” noted Italiano.

“Cambiaghi was wrong and he apologised to the team. It’s disappointing, as he was having a great game, but it means this is a mistake he won’t make again in future.”