Bologna hosted AS Roma tonight for the first leg of the Europa League round of 16. Both teams were hoping to avenge losses in Serie A on the weekend. This came as both teams were playing angry and looking for a win to get their form back on track.

This led to the start of the game being a skittish grudge match. Bologna and Roma both saw a player pickup a yellow card in the first 15 minutes. It was worse for Bologna as Juan Miranda picked up the yellow and will now miss the second leg.

A fairly even first half would end up scoreless in a physical battle. Both sides had good chances on either end mainly through counter attacks, but both failed to create a big one. This came as both Santiago Castro and Donyell Malen were kept quite by the opposing defences in the first half.

However, in the second half the game would blow open. Bologna managed to find a spark plug through Jonathan Rowe who had a magnificent second half. He would create more with the ball beating Roma defenders on the ground and opening up the Giallorossi’s defence.

Rowe would manage to create the opening goal of the game for Bologna. He bought the ball down from a long pass dribbled past four Roma players and threaded the needle to Federico Bernardsechi who would then finish beautiful across goal to give the Rossoblu the lead.

Roma would look to create an equaliser after Roma scored but started off with little success. Bologna was aiming to keep up some pressure but Roma would have more control in the game. However, Roma would manage to find their break through substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini.

Joao Mario would be unable to control a high ball which would bounce allowing Cristante to take it. He would then find Donyell Malen who would beat 3 Bologna defenders and force Lukasz Skorupski to dive allowing him to find Lorenzo Pellegrini with an open net to equalise.

Donyell Malen would have another big chance to score after beating two defenders and Skorupski one on one, however his shot would be deflected off the post. Meanwhile in the 88th minute Martin Vitik managed to beat Mile Svilar with a header but it went off the crossbar and out of play, leaving the game level until full time.

Player Ratings

Bologna

Jonathan Rowe – 7.5: Jonathan Rowe was my man of the match today as he was key for Bologna, throughout the game. He created most of their chances including the second goal were he found Federico Bernardeschi open on the left side of the box.

Lukasz Skorupski (5.5), Juan Miranda (6.5), Jhon Lucumi (5.5), Nicolo Casale (5.5), Joao Mario (6), Tommaso Pogeba (6.5), Remo Freuler (5.5), Lewis Ferguson (6), Federico Bernardeschi (7), Santiago Castro (6)

Roma

Donyell Malen – 7: Donyell Malen was on the end of the most of Roma’s chance while also being responsible for creating some of them. However, his performance lacked the clinical end product today which we have come to know him for with Roma so far this season.

Mile Svilar (6.5), Zeki Celik (5.5), Evan Ndicka (6.5), Daniele Ghilardi (6), Devyne Rensch (5), Neil El Aynaoui (5.5), Niccolo Pisilli (5.5), Wesley (6), Bryan Cristante (6), Bryan Zaragoza (5),

Bologna are set to continue on their Europa League, journey today after a win against Brann in the round of 32. They are now set to face Roma, in an all Italian Derby in the Round of 16. Bologna come into the game over a shocking loss on the weekend against Hellas Verona.

Roma come into this game in similar circumstances after a shock loss to Genoa last weekend. Both teams lost 2-1 in the games that they were favoured in. They are now looking to turn their form around in today’s game to take a first leg lead, before travelling to Rome.

The first leg of the game, will be played in Bologna, before the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico next week. Roma, earnt the advantage of playing at home in the second leg by finishing top eight in the group stage. Roma managed to edge out Bolgona as they two sides finished eighth and ninth.

Predicted Lineups via Sky Sport

Bologna 4-3-3

Lukasz Skorupski

Juan Miranda, Martin Vitik, Jhon Lucumi, Joao Mario

Tommaso Pogeba, Remo Freuler, Lewis Ferguson

Jonathan Rowe, Thjis Dallinga, Federico Bernardeschi

Roma 3-4-2-1

Mile Svilar

Mario Hermoso, Evan Ndicka, Daniele Ghilardi

Wesley, Niccolo Pisilli, Manu Kone, Zeki Celik

Bryan Cristante, Bryan Zaragoza

Donyell Malen

Atalanta hosted German giants Bayern Munich in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in the Champions League tie today. This was a chance for Atalanta to snap some poor form to build a lead before heading to Munich next week. However, the opposite would happen for Atalanta.

They would have a horror start to the game being dominated by Bayern Munich. It took the German side only 12 minutes to score off a short corner which saw Josip Stanisic find the back of the net. Bayern wouldn’t be satisfied with one goal however as they kept on pushing.

Michael Olise scored only ten minutes after Stanisic curling in a beautiful shot from the edge of the box. Serge Gnabry would score one on one only three minutes later to give Bayern a three goal lead before half an hour. Bayern Munich would keep the same goalscoring form up in the second half of the match.

It took Nicolas Jackson until only the 51st minute to find Bayern’s fourth. This was after a strong counter attack saw the ball fall to him inside the box for an easy bottom corner finish. It would take Bayern only 12 minutes after Jackson scored to find their fifth. This time it came from Michael Olise again scoring a similar goal to his first.

Jamal Musiala then came scoring Bayerns sixth only so minutes on the pitch after a cross from Nicolas Jackson. However, it wasn’t all bad for Atalanta as they did manage to get one goal back late. Mario Palasic scored in the 92nd minute for Atalanta giving them one goal back on Bayern’s lead. This will see them face a five-goal deficit when they travel to Munich next week.