Inter – Bologna 10.03.2013

Inter may have produced a stunning comeback to beat Catania in their last league fixture, but the 3-0 defeat to Tottenham in midweek should give them an extra motive to try and beat very good Bologna side. Felsinei are looking for their third successive victory and hoping to pour more misery on the team that eliminated them from Coppa Italia.

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Before the embarrassing 3-0 defeat at White Hart Lane, Inter were doing pretty well in all the competitions entered, and there were really no reasons to criticize Andrea Stramaccioni, especially taking into account the unbelievable selection problems the talented coach had to contend with from the very start to the season. However, the heavy loss to Tottenham showed that Inter do not have decent replacements for the likes of Samuel, Guarin and Palacio, among others, so it will certainly be good to have at least the latter two back in the starting line-up for the Bologna clash. That, together with the return of Kuzmanovic and Schelotto, should make the Neroazzurri more dangerous up front, but their usually weak back line will be in all sorts of problems now that amazing Samir Handanovic is also missing. This is why I expect to see quite a few goals at Giuseppe Meazza.

Bologna are clearly one of the surprise packages of the season, even if they took quite a while to climb out of the danger zone. Boss Stefano Pioli had assembled a very good side, capable of playing attack-minded and counterattacking football, but their results in the first part of the season were far from impressive. The team, nonetheless, showed additional improvement after the winter break and they have since been steadily climbing the league standings. It was the change to 4-2-3-1 formation that brought the best results, with Kone, Gabbiadini and Diamanti looking really dangerous behind lone striker Gilardino. This has seen Bologna score 19 goals in last 9 games in all competitions, playing out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Inter in Coppa Italia in the process, although they did lose the tie after extra time. With the players full of confidence following back to back wins over Fiorentina and Cagliari, Felsinei can be trusted to produce another attacking display at Meazza.