They dreamed of it for half a century. This Wednesday, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Bologna players did much more than delivering a cup match: they scored an eternal line to their record. A goal from Dan Ndoye in the 53rd minute was enough to capsize a whole people, and to defeat a team from AC Milan which will never have really existed. The Rossoblù have raised their first Italian Cup since 1974. And the Roman night belongs to Vincenzo Italiano, architect of this unexpected triumph.
Tétanized Milan, sovereign bologna
Bologna played with the heart and the head. After a prudent first period, their rise in diet was surgical. The only goal of the match arises from a recovery error by Theo Hernández, after an attempted Orsolini. Ndoye appears like a fox, full axis, and crosses his shot at ground level. 1-0, the psychological break is made. The Swiss could even have offered a double, but its strike from the left to the 77th flirts with the amount.
Milan, yet in desperate quest for a European ticket, replied with a dismaying silence. Only one spark in 90 minutes: a rescue of Skorupski on a cover of Jovic in the 11th minute. The rest ? Radio silence. No thrill, no revolt. The Lombards seemed to be emptied, absent, like this end of the gloomy season. Unlike the championship match won against the same opponent last weekend (3-1), Milan never found the key.
Roman nightmare for Milan, Bologna enters the legend
A bitter taste for conceição
This sinking in the final could well be the last act of Sergio Conceição on the Milanese bench. Arrived in winter with the hope of bringing pride, he should leave without honors and having failed to qualify the club for Europe. Mike Maignan is also likely to know the same fate. However, the French goalkeeper was one of the few to have responded, notably with a decisive parade on Miranda's free kick (9th). But nothing helped: Milan seemed to be resigned, suffocated, unable.
Bologna turns to the future. This victory, with the appearance of a consecration, also marks a rocking point. Italiano, often betrayed in major meetings, finally takes his revenge on fate. Here he is now propelled into the Europa League, as a worthy successor to Thiago Motta. And Bologna, long in the shadows, has just rekindled a light that was believed to be forever extinguished.
