Coppa Italia | Bologna 2-1 Parma: Castro turnaround to begin trophy defence

Bologna had to turn it around from the Adrian Benedyczak opener to eliminate Parma with Jonathan Rowe and Santiago Castro to begin the defence of their Coppa Italia trophy.

The Rossoblu will go on to face either AC Milan or Lazio in the quarter-finals. They had been in remarkable form with seven wins and five draws in all competition until Monday’s surprise home defeat to Cremonese in Serie A. Lukasz Skorupski, Remo Freuler and Martin Vitik were still out of action, but Ciro Immobile returned to the squad for the first time since August 23. Parma had Elia Plicco suspended after his red card against Spezia in the last round, with Zion Suzuki, Abdoulaye Ndiaye, Alessandro Circati and Matija Frigan injured. New goalkeeper Vicente Guaita received his debut.

Federico Ravaglia had to rush off his line after six minutes after Adrian Benedyczak went clear on a Lewis Ferguson error, but it was only a warning, as Parma did score in a similar fashion.

This time, Benedyczak sprung the offside trap from the Mathias Lovik through ball and kept his cool to sweep past the on-rushing goalkeeper.

Ravaglia made another save on Benedyczak at the near post, while Giovanni Fabbian just failed to get clean contact on a dangerous cross from six yards.

Bologna equalised when Federico Bernardeschi hoofed a ball over the top to surprise Nicolas Trabucchi with the bounce, Rowe fired his first attempt onto the inside of the far post, but was ready to turn in the rebound. It was the ex-Marseille man’s first goal for the club.

The hosts came out fighting for the second half with a series of crosses and shots charged down, most notably Mariano Troilo in the way of a Giovanni Fabbian chest and volley.

Jhon Lucumi’s header flashed inches over from a corner, but just as Bologna were pouring forward, Lovik burst down the left and saw his angled drive skim the far post for Parma.

Charalampos Lykogiannis saw his snapshot smothered by debutant Guaita, but Ciro Immobile made his comeback for the first time since a serious thigh strain in August.

It was another Bologna striker who proved decisive, as Santiago Castro popped up with the header on an Emil Holm cross from the right, allowed to jump relatively unmarked from eight yards at the 89th minute.

Benedyczak 13 (P), Rowe 38 (B), Castro 89 (B)