Bologna’s first league win at Lecce has changed the mood around Raffaele Palladino’s side, but it has also brought a sharper test into view. Inter, Serie A’s leaders and the division’s highest-scoring team, arrive at the Dall’Ara for the opening match of the seventh round, asking Bologna to turn relief into conviction.
Palladino wants his players to carry the same intensity they showed at the Via del Mare into a very different kind of occasion. He identified personality, courage and what he called a healthy sense of boldness as essential qualities against an opponent of Inter’s level, with a large home crowd expected to give the evening further weight.
“The team must show the same fire and hunger as it did in Lecce, because those are the qualities that have defined this group over recent years,” Palladino said. “We are facing the league leaders, the side with the best attack. Matches like these are settled by details. I want to see personality, courage and a healthy audacity. I would like the players to be carried along by the supporters’ enthusiasm too, because we already know there will be plenty of them.”
The coach did not reveal which goalkeeper will start, despite difficult early weeks for both Lukasz Skorupski and Pessina. Palladino insisted that the decision is made through daily work rather than a simple response to mistakes, and confirmed that he had already selected his goalkeeper for the Inter match.
“Training determines who plays, regardless of the errors that can happen, because mistakes are part of the job,” he said. “I have complete faith in both Skorupski and Pessina.”
There is also a decision to make in defence after Darmian started in Lecce, a selection prompted by Theate’s injury. Palladino made clear, however, that the defender remains highly regarded within the group. He described Darmian as “the professor”, a player capable of reading situations before they develop and effectively serving as a coach on the pitch.
Palladino believes Darmian can also operate as the right-sided player in a back three, while stressing that Bologna’s defensive unit is still taking shape. The work, in his view, is moving forward through fresh understandings and improved automatisms, though he warned that the process cannot be rushed. Against Inter, Bologna will need those developing connections to hold firm under the pressure of the championship’s most productive attack.
