Di Vaio: ‘Bologna historic opportunity, Italiano brought courage’

Bologna director Marco Di Vaio insists they ‘earned our place here’ in the Supercoppa Italiana Final against Napoli and credits Vincenzo Italiano with their ‘courage.’

It kicks off at the Al-Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh at 19.00 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the Liveblog.

The winner will be decided after 90 minutes or go directly to a penalty shoot-out, so there is no extra time.

It is the first time ever that the Rossoblu have been up for the Supercoppa Italiana, because the tournament hadn’t yet been introduced the last time the club won silverware.

They are here thanks to the Coppa Italia triumph in May, also beating Inter on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Supercup semi-final on Friday.

Bologna won first Coppa Italia in 51 years

“There is the right enthusiasm for these occasions, as we earned our place here after the game with Inter, so we want to be protagonists to the very end,” Di Vaio told Sport Mediaset.

“We’ve been getting good results rather consistently for a few years now, which gives us pride and also responsibility, because it means you must play to win. The lads know this is a unique opportunity to write a page in the history books of this club.”

Vincenzo Italiano is turning into a real Cup competition specialist, as this is his fifth Final in the last four years, even if he only won one.

At Fiorentina, he lost two editions of the Conference League Final and a Coppa Italia Final.

“The coach deserves all the credit, because he brought this mentality, philosophy and his credo. It wasn’t easy at the start, as with Thiago Motta we had a very different style of football, more based on possession.

“Italiano had to work hard at the start, he found this great spirit and desire to learn in the players, and this courage that we see now in our playing style is down to him,” assured Di Vaio.