“Bologna is coming along well compared to the beginning of the season: it was also normal that a new coach with new ideas needed a period of adaptation.” The word of Massimo Mutarelli, a former Rossoblù midfielder interviewed at the microphones of Il Corriere di Bologna: “For a couple of months the team has been very well put together on the field, it has clear ideas and even against Como it played a great game, with strength and awareness of its own means.”
“Has the Champions League helped Bologna improve? Absolutely,” Mutarelli added, “The intensity of that kind of competition helps. In its time it helped Atalanta grow, now Bologna: in Italy you often don’t find that high intensity. You often see after two minutes a turn of the ball to lower the pace, but in the international arena that doesn’t happen: possession is always aimed at looking for the right space to hurt you, the big names of Europe never lower the pace. Having to push yourself further and play against the big teams of Europe improves you: welcome to play every three days, because you face the strongest and you grow.”
Final comment on De Silvestri: “Having people like him in the locker room gives you a big hand. Lollo was my teammate at Lazio when he was a kid: now he is a man but as a player and as a person he has always been special. He was good at understanding his role, accepting his exclusion from the Champions list after winning it and making himself available: I congratulate him.”
