Bologna just needs Castro: beat Brann

After the heavy debacles of Juventus, Inter and Atalanta, respectively defeated by Galatasaray, Bodo/Glimt and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League playoffs, Italian soccer is smiling again in the international arena. At the ‘Brann Stadion’ in Bergen, in fact, Bologna narrowly beat Brann (1-0) thanks to a goal by Castro early in the match in the first leg of the Europa League playoffs.

Luca Giorgetti

Nine minutes pass and Bologna is already ahead: Cambiaghi serves Castro in the area who from a defiladed position manages to find a precise diagonal left-footed shot with which he beats Dyngeland. On 24′ came Brann’s reply but Skorupski was miraculous first on Myhre’s header and then on Thorsteinsson’s tap-in. In the final blow to the head for Castro, who stayed down a couple of minutes before recovering.

In the second half, Italiano prefers to replace the Argentine striker: Dallinga enters in his place, along with Orsolini, who replaces Bernardeschi. It is immediately the newly-entered Orsolini who makes himself dangerous with a shot-cross cleared by Dyngeland. Then it is Orsolini again who tries within two minutes with two left-footed roundabout shots: the first is easy prey for Dyngeland, the second ends up high. At 72′ Dallinga comes close to doubling the score but Dyngeland overcomes himself. In the final, the Norwegians try to push but the red and blue advantage holds out.

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Thanks to this important external victory, Bologna will have two out of three results at its disposal in the return match of the play-offs, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Renato Dall’Ara stadium at 9 p.m.