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Hello! Bologna are in love with the Champions League. Borussia Dortmund… not so much.
On the way:
Bologna’s 60-Year Journey
(Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
Sartori’s Midas touch
Giovanni Sartori is an Italian fixer. Or, strictly speaking, the 67-year-old is a fixer of Italian clubs. Everywhere he goes, fortunes improve — and little improves in football by chance.
He led Chievo’s revival from Serie C to Serie A. His refit of Atalanta teed them up for a Europa League title. And now, with Sartori pulling the strings again, his deft touch has the Champions League anthem ringing around the streets of Bologna.
Bologna are at Anfield tonight, hosted by Liverpool in the Champions League’s initial stage. It’s new ground for the team from the hills of northern Italy. They have never graced the competition before, or not in its Champions League era. They qualified for the old European Cup just once, and went out in the preliminary round.
Their history boasts seven Serie A titles but while Bologna were once a big hitter domestically, their last scudetto came in 1964. That makes this evening’s tie their hottest game for 60 years — a reward for their Canadian-Italian chairman’s commitment to thinking big.
‘A dream to play at Anfield’
Bologna are majority owned by Giuseppe ‘Joey’ Saputo (above), the Canada-born businessman who founded MLS franchise CF Montreal (formerly Montreal Impact). Sartori is their technical director and Marco Di Vaio — a prolific Serie A striker in his time — holds the role of sporting director. Di Vaio finished his career at Montreal.
The growth at Bologna is the product of consistently solid judgement. Thiago Motta was a sound choice as head coach in 2022, the same year Sartori came on the scene – so much so that Motta is now managing Juventus.
The quality of their form in Serie A last season, when they finished fifth and registered 17 clean sheets, can be gauged by Arsenal doing a £42m ($56m) deal to take Riccardo Calafiori off their hands in July, two short weeks after Manchester United paid Bologna £34m for Joshua Zirkzee (pictured above with Saputo).
They search far and wide for players, from Switzerland to the Netherlands to the maligned Scottish leagues. One of their centre-backs, Sam Beukema, nearly signed for Liverpool head coach Arne Slot when Slot was in charge of Feyenoord. “I think I can speak for everybody,” Beukema told James Horncastle. “It will be a dream to play at Anfield.”
Making a breakthrough
Atalanta have set the standard for hitherto forgotten clubs working their way back into the European arm wrestle. Atalanta’s 2017-18 Europa League appearance was their first in Europe for 26 years. Last season, they won it— ending a 61-year wait for a trophy.
Inevitably, Bologna will have their limits in the Champions League. Even Sartori can only do so much. But at a time when the strongest keep getting stronger, it’s nice to know that top-tier football isn’t a closed shop…
(Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Backlash and mismatches
It was back to reality in the Champions League yesterday. Bologna might be floating on fairytale fumes but, in my view, the tournament is having a bit of an identity crisis.
Safe to say Borussia Dortmund’s fans despise the new nine-games-a-night format. Their crowd unfurled a striking tifo flag display (above), describing UEFA as ‘mafia’ and saying: “You don’t care about the sport — all you care about is the money.” Touche.
UEFA is yet to decide if the protest will result in any punishment for Dortmund. Past history strongly suggests that it will.
But if it’s honest with itself, Europe’s governing body should be asking whether its Champions League structure is all it’s cracked up to be. Last night was a plethora of mismatches: Dortmund smashing Celtic 7-1, Barcelona sticking five goals past Young Boys, Manchester City, Inter Milan and France’s Brest each winning 4-0, and Arsenal making light-ish work of Paris Saint-Germain.
The stack of fixtures makes following them individually tricky. Each round is being reduced to a highlights reel. Perhaps that’s what UEFA intended, but epic, individual clashes are what built the competition in the first place.
News Round-Up
(Getty Images; design by Eamonn Dalton)
Bruno’s Red & VAR
Every replay of Bruno Fernandes’ red card on Sunday made an appeal against it likely. OK, he caught James Maddison high on the shin with his studs showing, but he slipped as he ran, he dangled a leg out and common sense said he deserved a booking.
Yesterday, an appeal panel reviewed Manchester United’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and concluded — as Monday’s TAFC thought they might — that Fernandes’ dismissal should be rescinded. A three-match ban for serious foul play no longer stands. It’s a small mercy for Erik ten Hag.
The issue is that the foul had already been reviewed on Sunday by the video assistant referee (VAR). On-pitch referee Chris Kavanagh didn’t have a perfect view of Fernandes’ lunge, but VAR Peter Bankes took a look and backed the original decision.
So one official said red. A second, with TV monitors to help him, agreed. But then a commission with more time to reflect concluded that both are wrong. You’ll remember Wolverhampton Wanderers trying to kill VAR as a concept at the end of last season. Writing this morning, Jack Pitt-Brooke wishes they had succeeded. And try as I might, I just can’t get on board with the review system either.
Around The Athletic FC
(Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Catch A Match (Times ET/UK)
Champions League: Girona vs Feyenoord, 12.45pm/5.45pm — Paramount+/TNT Sports; Aston Villa vs Bayern Munich, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/TNT Sports; Lille vs Real Madrid, 3pm/8pm, Paramount+, Fubo/TNT Sports; Liverpool vs Bologna, 3pm/8pm, Paramount+/TNT Sports; RB Leipzig vs Juventus, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/TNT Sports.
And Finally…
You know Jude Bellingham and you’ll find him doing bits for Real Madrid later (see Catch A Match section), but how much do you know about the other Bellingham — Jude’s brother, Jobe?
Jobe, 19, is having a decent season in England’s Championship. His club, Sunderland, are top of the division with designs on a place in the Premier League and his goal in a 2-0 win over Derby County yesterday cast him as a chip off his brother’s block. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Got a question/feedback? Email us: theathleticfc@theathletic.com
(Top photo: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
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