epa11853072 Bologna’s midfielder Benja Domínguez celebrates after scoring a goal during the Italian serie A soccer match Empoli vs Bologna FC at Carlo Castellani Stadium in Empoli, Italy, 25 January 2025. EPA-EFE/CLAUDIO GIOVANNINI
A splendid Benjamin Dominguez volley allowed Bologna to grab a point away to Empoli, as they seemed to be suffering from a Coppa Campioni hangover.
The Rossoblu were still celebrating their first ever Coppa Campioni victory midweek against Borussia Dortmund, plus a run of positive Serie A results, though Riccardo Orsolini was out with a thigh injury. Empoli had started the season so well, but scraped only one point from the last six rounds and were missing Nicolas Haas, Ola Solbakken, Saba Sazonov, Tyronne Ebuehi and Pietro Pellegri.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
The hosts opened the scoring after 24 minutes when Jacopo Fazzini’s slide-rule pass sent Giuseppe Pezzella down the left, flashing a ball across the face of goal that Lorenzo Colombo flung himself at to turn in from six yards at the near post. In the follow-through, he also ended up crashing into Lukasz Skorupski, but only after getting the ball.
Devis Vasquez flapped helplessly at a corner and on the following throw-in Bologna got the equaliser thanks to a fantastic Benjamin Dominguez right-foot volley at the back post on the Charalampos Lykogiannis cross.
Colombo only managed to graze a Fazzini cross from five yards, allowing Skorupski to punch it away, while Devis Vasquez flew to get a glove to the heavily deflected Jens Odgaard strike from the edge of the area.
There was a huge Bologna opportunity when Vasquez needed a reaction save on Sam Beukema’s volley from six yards on a Juan Miranda cross.
Mattia Viti pulled up clutching the top of his thigh during added time, so Empoli were to all intents and purposes down to 10 men for the final minutes.
Empoli 1-1 Bologna
Colombo 24 (E), Dominguez 45 (B)
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Image:Getty
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