Yahoo Sports Serie A | Bologna 2-2 Roma: Ice cold Dovbyk with last kick
Roma had fumbled a lead in Bologna by conceding two goals in the space of four minutes, but Artem Dovbyk kept cool to convert a penalty with the last kick of the game for 2-2.
The Giallorossi were revitalised by their 2-0 Derby della Capitale victory over Lazio, so Lorenzo Pellegrini started again, with Bryan Cristante out of action. The Rossoblu had been in fine form with 10 points from four rounds until the 3-2 defeat to Verona when down to 10 men, but with the fixture against Inter postponed for the Supercoppa, this was their first match of 2025. Tommaso Pobega was suspended, with Michel Aebischer, Oussama El Azzouzi and Nicolò Cambiaghi long-term absentees.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
It was a very aggressive start from the hosts, as Thijs Dallinga tested Mile Svilar with a powerful strike at the near post, while Sam Beukema dived in to stop Artem Dovbyk getting the shot away after a control and turn on the Leandro Paredes pass.
On the resulting Roma corner, Lukasz Skorupski had his gloves stung by the Paredes scorcher, then plucked a follow-up Dovbyk header out of the air.
Paulo Dybala fired over from a tricky angle, but Alexis Saelemaekers broke the deadlock against the side where he was on loan last season. Manu Koné sent the Belgian down the right, where he cut inside and bent a left-foot finish from the edge of the box, bouncing just in front of Skorupski to squirm into the far bottom corner. He refused to celebrate against his old club, waving an apology to the crowd.
It barely lasted three minutes, as Benjamin Dominguez robbed Saelemaekers to spark a counter-attack, Dan Ndoye spreading it for Jens Odgaard, who in turn found Dallinga unmarked to fire in at the near post.
Roma crumbled, as a corner was flicked on and Pellegrini dragged down Odgaard for a penalty, which Lewis Ferguson converted by sending Svilar the wrong way.
The hosts kept pushing, as Riccardo Orsolini fired straight at Svilar, then the goalkeeper pushed an Odgaard scorcher over the bar.
Jhon Lucumi made a decisive block on the Tommaso Baldanzi pull-back from the by-line, but only after the Roma player had fouled Remo Freuler.
The drama was not over, because deep into stoppages a corner was flicked on by Evan N’Dicka and struck Lucumi on the hand. The referee awarded a penalty following a VAR On-Field Review and Dovbyk kept his cool to calmly sweep it home with the last kick of the game.
Bologna 2-2 Roma
Saelemaekers 58 (R), Dallinga 61 (B), Ferguson pen 65 (B), Dovbyk pen 98 (R)
