Italiano: ‘Bologna future will be discussed, Rowe is unpredictable’

Vincenzo Italiano explains why Jonathan Rowe didn’t start in Bologna’s 3-2 victory away to Napoli and admits his future ‘will be discussed’ with club directors soon.

The Rossoblu had stuttered in the closing stages of the season and failed to even find the net in their last four games between Serie A and the Europa League.

However, they caused a huge upset with this 3-2 victory at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, meaning they beat Napoli home and away this term.

Federico Bernardeschi and a Riccardo Orsolini penalty had put them 2-0 up, only for Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Alisson Santos to claw them back to 2-2.

It was ultimately decided in stoppages by a spectacular Jonathan Rowe acrobatic volley, after Italiano confirmed he was not in the starting XI due to a slight injury.

“Bernardeschi told me it’s in his contract that every time he gets substituted, he needs to kick the bottles around on the touchline,” joked Italiano on DAZN Italia.

“I am happy for Rowe, because I had told him he could come on today for 20-25 minutes and bring his unpredictability, as he had a nasty bruise to his foot against Cagliari and didn’t train much last week.

“When someone with his quality comes on, he must put it at the disposal of the team with his talent and taking men on. I feel we had the just reward for an excellent first half performance, clearly Napoli fought back, but we gave a strong response to a difficult period.”

Both Rowe and Bernardeschi were on target today, but have struggled with fitness issues and adapting to Serie A football.

“We knew that Berna needed some time, that English players struggle more than others to adapt to Serie A, but after four months he started to really understand the movements and work with his teammates. He is young and has shown a lot of quality.

“Berna has impressive statistics for his fitness levels, you see the quality he brings.”

Santiago Castro was included in the 55-man long-list for the Argentina squad at the World Cup.

“He is still very young, but has been a starter for the last two years, is improving the way he works for the team off the ball, he still has enormous margin for improvement. If he keeps his feet firmly on the ground and continues to show this effort, he can become a great centre-forward,” said the coach.

Now Bologna are in eighth place, and although European qualification is beyond them, they can try to miss the first two rounds of the Coppa Italia next term.

“We were unable to be quite as amazing as last season, but there were some bright moments this year too, it’s a pity about the last few months, but now we have another two games and will hope to do as well as we did tonight,” continued Italiano.

The coach has been linked with a departure from Bologna and several clubs are said to be interested, including Milan and Napoli. The newspapers claim there will be a summit with directors tomorrow.

“I don’t know about there being a meeting tomorrow. There will be a meeting with the club to discuss how the season went and future plans, we did it last year and will do it again this time,” replied Italiano.

“I always said this is a top club and atmosphere around us, we were sad for the jeers recently, but these things happen. We’ll discuss it and see what we should do.”