Italiano praise for ‘hungry’ Castro and ‘mature’ Bologna

Vincenzo Italiano is full of praise for Santiago Castro after Bologna won 1-0 away to Brann in the Europa League play-off. ‘I saw a mature performance this evening.’

The Rossoblu had an ideal start in the freezing temperatures of Bergen, as Santiago Castro’s angled drive surprised the goalkeeper to give them the lead after nine minutes.

There were more chances to bolster the scoreline with Riccardo Orsolini and Thijs Dallinga forcing saves, though Lukasz Skorupski also needed a difficult double save on the only real Brann chance.

Italiano feels Bologna turned a corner

“We had to adapt to the conditions, because we knew it would be difficult, and fortunately we did check the pitch even in the dark last night,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.

The floodlights were switched off when the team arrived from Italy on Wednesday for their media duties.

“Clearly, we couldn’t do much more than this, as we didn’t want to run unnecessary risks. We managed to bring home the victory, but it only means we have a one-goal advantage.

“Now we hope to do better at the Dall’Ara, because it feels like every time we play at home, there is some sort of curse on us.”

It puts Bologna in a strong position going into the second leg of this play-off, which will be at the Stadio Dall’Ara on Thursday February 26.

The Rossoblu had struggled so badly at the start of 2026, winning just two out of 14 competitive games, but have now managed back-to-back victories after the 2-1 away to Torino in Serie A.

“We got a bit of enthusiasm with these two victories, because it’s tough to work when you have one defeat after another, playing every three days, it can damage the self-belief you built up over a year and a half,” continued Italiano.

“I saw a mature performance today, and hope that in future it can become a habit, starting with the right attitude and keeping concentrated.

“We aren’t conceding as much now compared to a few weeks ago, and that is making the difference. We’ve got to always be switched on.”

Castro has really found his form too, scoring in three consecutive games in all competition, and he ran over tonight to celebrate with his coach.

“Santi has something so important for this sport, which is the hunger he shows every day, every training session, every minute on the field. Even on the team bus, he’s the one talking about football,” explained Italiano.

“It is a pleasure to work with such young players who are so hungry, so eager to help their teammates. I’m very happy that he is now scoring regularly too.

“He really is very mature for his age, and a team player, who as a centre-forward makes enormous sacrifices for the squad with his work off the ball. I always tell him, that work will pay off, don’t worry.”

When these teams met back in November in the league phase, it ended 0-0, with Bologna creating far more chances despite being down to 10 men for over an hour.

It was one of several matches that left them with regrets, as they narrowly missed out on direct qualification for the Europa League Round of 16.

“We played a tough game against Torino last week, because we knew that we could not afford another mistake,” noted Italiano.

“The lads showed focus, solidity and spirit of sacrifice, that is all I ask for from now to the end of the season. We paid a heavy price at times for errors, and lost a lot of ground in the Serie A table, but we can change that trend, especially on home turf.”