Italiano: ‘Bologna move paid off, best news is Immobile return’

Vincenzo Italiano feels Bologna’s bravery ‘paid off’ in the Coppa Italia comeback victory over Parma, but ‘the best news’ was Ciro Immobile’s return from injury.

The Rossoblu won the Coppa Italia last season, beating AC Milan in the Final to lift their first piece of silverware in over 50 years.

This was their first match in the tournament for the new campaign and started on the wrong foot, with Adrian Benedyczak giving Parma the early lead.

However, Jonathan Rowe equalised after hitting the upright, then Santiago Castro popped up with an 89th-minute header to send them through.

“When it was 1-1, we tried to put all the strikers at our disposal on the field, as we wanted to avoid penalties,” Italiano told Sport Mediaset.

“That decision paid off. Our second half performance was very positive, and the best news was the return of Ciro. Mentally and physically, we will have an extra weapon at our disposal from now on.”

Immobile was back in the squad for the first time since a serious thigh strain in late August, and he came off the bench for a late cameo at the Stadio Dall’Ara.

“Before Ciro got hurt, with Castro and Dallinga available too, we had tried having two strikers together, but obviously we abandoned that system after the injury,” explained Italiano.

“Now we can try it again, because when you’ve got two forwards like this, you can cause real problems for the opposition defenders. In any case, we always try to press with a midfielder in a more advanced role too.

“Ciro is deadly when attacking the space, now we have this extra option to draw upon.”

The rough start felt like a hangover from Monday’s surprising 3-1 home defeat to Cremonese in Serie A, which was sealed by a Jamie Vardy brace.

The quarter-final will be against either Lazio or AC Milan, so could be a replay of last season’s Final.

Finally, Italiano was asked about the struggles that his former club Fiorentina are dealing with, as they are in penultimate place in Serie A.

“I am sad, because there are such wonderful people at that club. It was all so unexpected, but they can still turn this around. The team was built for a very different position in the table.

“Florence is a city that pushes you on, but it can also be very demanding, and the atmosphere gets heavy when things are going badly. I am convinced they’ll be able to turn this around.”