Nightmare night for Bologna and Fiorentina

Italian soccer has to deal with a double disappointment in the first leg of the Europa League and Conference League quarterfinals. In fact, Bologna was defeated 3-1 by Aston Villa at the “Dall’Ara” in the second continental competition, while Fiorentina lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the tournament in which in their three previous appearances they had reached the final twice and the semifinals once. The return matches will be played on Thursday, April 16.

Bologna would already go in on goal at 26′ of the first half with Castro, but after review in the VAR Room comes the cancellation for offside. Aston Villa grew minute by minute and at 44′ they went ahead: Ravaglia made a mistake in the exit on a corner kick, Konsa took advantage and made it 1-0. At 51′ came the doubling: Buendia snatched the ball from Heggem and served Watkins, who beat the outgoing Bologna goalkeeper. Bologna, after a crossbar by Bernardeschi in 79′, shortened with Rowe but the Villans struck again in the salvage with Watkins: it ended 3-1.

To unlock Crystal Palace-Fiorentina instead was a penalty kick scored in 24′ by Mateta: the maximum punishment had been awarded for a foul in the area by Dodô against Guessand. A few minutes later, on 31′ also came the knockout blow: De Gea was miraculous on Mateta but could do nothing about Mitchell, lurking in the best possible turf to make it 2-0. At 51′ Fiorentina came close to scoring with Fabbian, who was stopped by the crossbar: it was the most delicious chance of a match dominated for the rest by the Eagles, who at 91′ sealed the final 3-0 with Sarr.

This is the summary of the quarterfinal round:

Europa League
Braga-Betis 1-1 – 5′ Grillitsch, 61′ rig. Cucho Hernandez (BE) – played on Wednesday
Bologna-Aston Villa 1-2 – 44′ Konsa, 51′ and 94′ Watkins, 90′ Rowe (B)
Porto-Nottingham Forest 1-1 – 11′ William Gomes, 13′ aut. Fernandes (N)
Freiburg-Celta Vigo 3-0 – 10′ Grifo, 32′ Beste, 78′ Ginter

Conference League
Rayo Vallecano-AEK Athens 3-0 – 2′ Akhomach, 47′ pt Lopez, 74′ rig. Palazon
Crystal Palace-Fiorentina 3-0 – 24′ rig. Mateta, 31′ Mitchell, 91′ Sarr
Mainz-Strasbourg 2-0 – 11′ Sano, 19′ Posch
Shakhtar-AZ Alkmaar 3-0 – 72′ Pedrinho, 81′ and 83′ Alisson – played on neutral field in Krakow