Following a sluggish start to the first half from both teams, it was the visitors who registered the first shot on target when Santiago Castro’s close-range header forced Alberto Paleari into a comfortable save after 20 minutes played.
Shortly afterwards, Bologna’s Federico Bernardeschi went on a 30-yard run to strike fear into Torino’s defence; however, his eventual shot lacked conviction and rolled harmlessly into the goalkeeper’s gloves.
The Rossoblu’s momentum continued to grow in the closing stages before the interval, as Bernardeschi produced a much cleaner strike from 15 yards out, resulting in a decent save from Paleari before Jonathan Rowe dragged a close-range strike wide of the target when he should have done better.
Torino’s first-half attacking threat was practically non-existent, with zero shots on target registered, but their defence held strong to keep the hosts in contention at the midway point.
It didn’t take long at all though after the restart for the visitors to break the deadlock. A deflection off a Torino player diverted the ball right into the path of the incoming Nikola Moro and his deft, clever finish from six yards out beat the goalkeeper to edge Vincenzo Italiano’s side in front.
With no sign of improvement in Torino’s performance, Bologna almost doubled their advantage just before the hour mark when Simon Sohm’s close-range strike was superbly palmed away by Paleari.
The tables suddenly turned though when the hosts grabbed an equaliser in the 62nd minute through Nikola Vlasic for his sixth Serie A goal of the season. Initially, Duvan Zapata’s rapid shot was parried away by Lukasz Skorupski, but to Bologna’s dismay, Vlasic was the quickest player to react and steered the rebound home to bring the hosts back to level terms.
However, the Rossoblu were in no mood to feel sorry for themselves and retook the lead with 20 minutes remaining thanks to an excellent finish from Castro to place the ball into the bottom corner just out of Paleari’s reach.
Despite the hosts’ best efforts, Bologna held out to claim three vital points.
Defeat at home sees Torino remain in 14th position in the Serie A table and just six points clear of the relegation zone; Il Toro will face Genoa on the road next weekend in the league where they will look to return to winning ways.
Meanwhile, Bologna’s much-needed victory moves them up three places to eighth and revives their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Santiago Castro (Bologna)
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