Italiano and Bologna relieved Dallinga finally got his first goal

Vincenzo Italiano hopes Thijs Dallinga breaking his duck can help Bologna ‘keep the run of positive results going’ after their 2-0 victory away to Torino.

This means Bologna have won six of their last eight Serie A games and are now on the exact same number of points as coach Thiago Motta had at this stage last season.

With a game in hand to be played against Milan, they remain ahead of the Rossoneri in the table.

“This win allows us to have a relaxed Christmas break, which was the objective today,” said Italiano in his press conference.

“We wanted to keep the run of positive results going and the lads have more than earned a bit of rest now.”

The Rossoblu wasted an early opportunity to take the lead at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino when Santiago Castro saw his penalty parried by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

However, substitute Dallinga finally got his first goal for the club just 42 seconds after coming off the bench, then Tommaso Pobega drilled through Dallinga’s legs to secure the 2-0 victory.

Italiano sees ‘mature’ Bologna developing

“We rather lost our way after the penalty and struggled to create chances, but fortunately Dallinga finally got his first goal, we’d been waiting a long time for that moment,” continued Italiano.

“Dallinga had come close so many times, especially in the Champions League, and has always been able to move in the right spaces. It’s important now to have a centre-forward who feels more confident.

“Considering we also hit the crossbar and had those situations with Remo Freuler, I think the second half was more than positive.”

Although they were a surprise last season, despite losing coach Thiago Motta and star players Riccardo Calafiori and Joshua Zirkzee, they are still doing very well.

“The President has this dream of keeping Bologna in Europe and at the high level, so we try to prepare every game with ambition. When you get a result, your enthusiasm grows,” added Italiano.

“No team can ever reach perfection, there is always something to adjust and improve. We are getting more mature as time goes on. It was not easy to win here, so these are three important points.”