Serie A | Bologna 0-0 Cagliari: Third consecutive goalless stalemate
Bologna were held to an underwhelming 0-0 draw at home against Cagliari in Serie A on Sunday afternoon, the third consecutive Italian top-flight match to end goalless.
Bologna came into Sunday’s clash ranked ninth in Serie A, while the 16th-placed Cagliari came in needing a victory to ensure mathematical safety with three games to spare. Vincenzo Italiano’s side were without goalkeeper Lukasz Skorpuski, Joao Mario, Nicolo Cambiaghi and Thijs Dallinga, and Cagliari travelled without Riyad Idrissi, Luca Mazzitelli, Mattia Felici, Leonardo Pavoletti and Gennaro Borrelli.
Click here to read more about how today’s teams lined up.
Federico Bernardeschi registered the game’s first shot on target after 25 minutes, coming in off the right flank and attempting to bend his left-footed shot into the far corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area. Nothing that Elia Caprile couldn’t handle, though.
Teenage goalkeeper Massimo Pessina was called into action in the 45th minute, improvising well to deny Sebastiano Esposito at his near post.
Benja Dominguez thought he had a shout for a penalty immediately afterwards after feeling a hand on the back from Yerry Mina down at the other end, but this was waved away with no further reviews.
Caprile had to get down low and get a strong hand out to deny Nikola Moro’s dipping shot from the edge of the penalty area 10 minutes after the re-start.
Substitute Santiago Castro struck the ball well from a tight angle 66 minutes in, but Caprile was again well positioned at his near post and got his full body behind the shot.
Ze Pedro had a glorious opportunity to send Cagliari 1-0 up 10 minutes from time: Michael Folorunsho had done well to send a cross back into a busy Bologna penalty area, which fell kindly for Ze Pedro, who managed to blast his first-time finish over the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box.
After 0-0 draws between Como and Napoli and between Atalanta and Genoa on Saturday evening, this was the third consecutive Serie A match to end goalless. Bologna are now four games without a win across all competitions, while Cagliari are not quite safe from relegation just yet.