Serie A | Cagliari 0-2 Bologna: Sardinian bubble has burst

Cagliari suffered another unexpected heavy defeat, falling 2-0 at home to Bologna with Nicolò Casale and Federico Bernardeschi on target.

The Sardinians had been on a sensational run of form with three straight wins and a 1-1 draw against Juventus, until collapsing 4-0 at Monza on Monday. Yael Trepy, Riyad Idrissi and Mattia Felici remained long-term absentees.

The visitors had turned a corner since Raffaele Palladino replaced Domenico Tedesco, but suffered his first defeat 3-1 to Inter. Roberto Piccoli, Riccardo Orsolini and Emil Holm were all out with muscular strains.

The high press almost caused huge problems for Elia Caprile playing out from the back, saved by the offside flag as Federico Bernardeschi joined in with Juan Miranda.

Paul Mendy went for an audacious and acrobatic volley that was always going to be tough to keep on target.

There was an odd moment as the second half was about to kick off, as Harry Winks felt a twinge in his back and Fabio Pisacane rushed through an unexpected substitution.

Alessandro Romano’s free kick only grazed the head of Michel Adopo, but it was Bologna who broke through after a series of corner kicks.

Juan Miranda curled his effort onto the head of Nicolò Casale, who was allowed a totally free run at goal from six yards. It was the defender’s first Serie A goal since January 2023.

Mendy’s header failed to trouble Lukasz Skorupski, but Bologna managed to double their advantage when Juan Rodriguez charged down the Bernardeschi screamer with his hand, so the ex-Montreal Impact forward converted the resulting penalty.

Bologna almost had another spot-kick moments later, as Niccolò Cambiaghi was brought down inches outside the box, and Bernardeschi’s resulting dinked free kick was cleared by the wall.

Cagliari 0-2 Bologna

Casale 57 (B), Bernardeschi pen 80 (B)

24-10-2026 14:00

MatchDay 8

Player statistic

1st half

2nd half

Match statistic

57 Possession % 43

4 Total shots 10

1 Shots on target 5

3 Shots off target 2

Blocked shots 3

1 Corners 6

2 Offsides 1

25 Fouls 13

Cagliari

Bologna

Starting lineups

1 Elia Caprile Goalkeeper

33 Adam Obert Defender

15 Juan Rodríguez Defender

2 Zé Pedro Defender 46'

14 Alessandro Deiola Midfielder

4 Alessandro Romano Midfielder 75'

70 Daniel Maldini Midfielder 67'

6 Harry Winks Midfielder 46'

8 Michel Adopo Midfielder

79 Yanis Massolin Midfielder 86'

31 Paul Mendy Attacker

1 Lukasz Skorupski Goalkeeper

3 Arthur Theate Defender

33 Juan Miranda Defender 75'

Matteo Darmian Defender 85'

20 Nadir Zortea Defender 75'

16 Nicolò Casale Defender

19 Lewis Ferguson Midfielder

4 Tommaso Pobega Midfielder

10 Federico Bernardeschi Attacker 89'

21 Jens Odgaard Attacker 75'

28 Nicolò Cambiaghi Attacker

Substitutes

10 Jacopo Fazzini Midfielder

20 Riccardo Ciervo Attacker

23 Boris Radunović Goalkeeper

M’Bala Nzola Attacker

22 Raphael Kofler Midfielder

26 Yerry Mina Defender

12 Alen Sherri Goalkeeper

27 Joseph Liteta Midfielder

32 Ivan Sulev Midfielder

35 Alessandro Sugamele Attacker

21 Roberto Gagliardini Midfielder 46'

Yukinari Sugawara Defender 46'

9 Kevin Carlos Attacker 67'

39 Alieu Fadera Midfielder 75'

24 Giuseppe Aurelio Midfielder 86'

29 Lorenzo De Silvestri Defender

6 Nikola Moro Midfielder

9 Artem Dovbyk Attacker

17 Oussama El Azzouzi Midfielder

22 Jay Enem Attacker

14 Torbjørn Heggem Defender

25 Massimo Pessina Goalkeeper

5 Eivind Helland Defender

72 Ukko Happonen Goalkeeper

23 Rahim Alhassane Defender 75'

8 Mikel Amondarain Midfielder 75'

18 Marco Libra Midfielder 75'

41 Martin Vitik Defender 85'

11 Samuel Mbangula Attacker 89'