“At the end of the first half we heard Mihajlovic’s anger on the phone and this shook us,” said Bologna forward Rodrigo Palacio. “We talked to him before the game, for us it is very important and we miss him. We play like this thanks to his mentality.”
Yesterday’s game was the first the 50-year-old Mihajlovic has missed despite his condition. A quick-fire Alfredo Donnarumma double saw Brescia — playing their first home match in eight years — lead after 19 minutes.
Mattia Bani headed Bologna back into the game on 36 minutes, with the visitors trailing 3-1 before Brescia were hit by Daniele Dessena’s sending off for a second yellow card just after the break. Bologna came back with goals from Palacio on 56 minutes, Stefano Denswil four minutes later and a Riccardo Orsolini’s winner ten minutes from time. Mihajlovic’s side are now two points behind Inter Milan and ahead of champions Juventus on goal difference after three games.
Elsewhere, Duvan Zapata struck deep into injury time to rescue a 2-1 win for Atalanta over Genoa ahead of his side’s Champions League debut, as Lazio fell to their first defeat of the season by the same scoreline at SPAL.
Colombian international Zapata rifled in on 95 minutes after Genoa captain Domenico Criscito had pulled the hosts level from the spot four minutes earlier. The side from Bergamo had been ahead after Colombian substitute Muriel’s 64th-minute penalty awarded when Genoa’s new defender Cristian Zapata fouled his cousin Duvan Zapata.
But amid the late drama Genoa were awarded a controversial penalty after Christian Kouame went down easily following a Berat Djimsiti challenge.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s side are now sixth before they travel to Dinamo Zagreb for their first ever Champions League game next week.
Lazio suffered their first defeat this season as they sat back following Ciro Immobile’s 17th-minute penalty against SPAL. An Andrea Petagna volley just after the hour mark in Ferrara and Jasmin Kurtic’s late winner sealed all three points for SPAL.
The Romans are eighth with four points from three games. Cagliari meanwhile won 3-1 at Parma in a game where there were 12 minutes of extra time following a lengthy VAR review.
Meanwhile, Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored a debut goal to help Paulo Fonseca secure his first win as AS Roma coach in a 4-2 victory over Sassuolo.
The Armenia international, who joined the capital club on loan from Arsenal on transfer deadline day, scored his side’s third goal as the visitors were put to the sword in the first half. Roma were 4-0 up inside 33 minutes thanks to Bryan Cristante’s header, a volley from Edin Dzeko, Mkhitaryan’s low strike and a composed finish from Justin Kluivert. The visitors rallied in the second half through Domenico Berardi’s brace but it was too little too late.
The result moves Roma into seventh place on five points, four behind leaders Inter Milan, while Sassuolo are 12th after taking three points from their opening three games.
On Saturday, Inter Milan reclaimed top spot after a 1-0 win over 10-man Udinese. Stefano Sensi’s diving header was enough to seal a maximum nine points for Antonio Conte’s Inter ahead of their European opener against Slavia Prague in the San Siro next Tuesday.
Juventus are trailing two points behind Inter after three games and could be overtaken by city rivals Torino who host promoted Lecce today.
Napoli meanwhile warmed up for European holders Liverpool on Tuesday with a Dries Mertens double sealing a 2-0 win over crisis club Sampdoria, to move up to fourth in the table.
Serie A results
Genoa 1 (Criscito 90+1-pen) Atalanta 2 (Muriel 64-pen, Zapata 90+5); Brescia 3 (Donnarumma 10, 19, Cistana 42) Bologna 4 (Bani 36, Palacio 56, Denswil 60, Orsolini 80); SPAL 2 (Petagna 63, Kurtic 90+2) Lazio 1 (Immobile 17-pen); Parma 1 (Antonio Barilla 58) Cagliari 3 (Ceppitelli 23, 39, Simeone 77); Roma 4 (Christante 12, Dzeko 19, Mkhitaryan 22, Kluivert 33) Sassuolo 2 (Berardi 53, 72)
Played Saturday: Fiorentina 0 Juventus 0; Napoli 2 (Mertens 13, 67) Sampdoria 0; Inter Milan 1 (Sensi 44) Udinese 0
