Bologna beat Monza 2-1 as Skorupski seals third straight league win

Bologna made it three straight league wins with a 2-1 comeback over Monza, and the decisive moment came late. Łukasz Skorupski saved Patrick Cutrone's 81st-minute penalty to preserve the result after Tommaso Pobega and Federico Bernardeschi had turned the game around. It was also Bologna's first home victory since April.

Set pieces and a save decided it

The shape of Bologna vs Monza was pretty clear by the end. Monza struck first when G. Varela scored from the penalty spot in the 6th minute, but Bologna recovered through dead-ball quality and then survived the late scare.

Pobega equalised in the 33rd minute with a volley from 13 yards. Bernardeschi put Bologna ahead with a penalty in the 59th. Between those two goals and Skorupski's stop from Cutrone, the match was settled by the sort of details that can swing a tight Serie A game.

football-italia.net summed it up neatly: "Bologna came back from an early Monza goal to secure a third straight win thanks to Tommaso Pobega, Federico Bernardeschi, and the Lukasz Skorupski penalty save, their first home victory since April."

Skorupski finished with three saves, and that late penalty stop was the biggest of them. He did not win the match on his own, because Bologna had already done the hard part by scoring twice, but he was the reason Monza did not leave with a point.

Bologna's run, Monza's problem

This was not just about one comeback. Bologna have now won three league games in a row, and after nine matches they sit 11th with 11 points. Their goal difference is still level at 12 scored and 12 conceded, which tells you these are not easy wins, but this one had some edge to it after the long wait for a home success.

Pobega's goal was his second league strike of the season in nine appearances, another reminder that Bologna are getting contributions from midfield rather than relying on one scorer. That fits the pattern here, because the comeback came from pressure and delivery, not from one forward taking over the match.

Monza, by contrast, left with a familiar problem. Varela is carrying real threat, even in defeat. The forward has now scored in four consecutive league games and leads the Serie A scoring chart on nine goals. A Bola, in comments translated from Portuguese, put it this way: "Portuguese scored again, for the fourth consecutive game, and moved alone into the lead of the Serie A scorers, with nine goals, but could not avoid the defeat (2-1) in Bologna".

The trouble for Monza is that Varela's form is not fixing the wider slide. They have lost three straight matches and remain 16th with seven points from nine league games. Bologna leave this with momentum and a first home win since April. Monza leave it knowing even a striker in this kind of form is not covering enough elsewhere.