Bologna – Lille

Italian club breaks a losing streak in the Champions League

Bologna last season overcame all their insecurities and limitations of the past decades by making it to the Champions League. The dream of the team's fans was fulfilled by Tiago Motta, who moved to Juventus as coach after a successful season. Under Vincenzo Italiano, the Red-Blues had a long and painful start to the season, but in recent weeks they have started to delight their fans. The current three-game winning streak has brought Bologna to eighth place in the national league standings. Now Italiano's wards will have to improve things in the Champions League. Lille for four rounds in this tournament struck all the sceptics, being the most sensational representative of it. For this status, the Doges beat two representatives of Madrid, Real and Atletico, and also took points away from the current club of Tiago Motta - Juventus. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 2.47 on their victory. At the start of the current season, Bologna issued a five-match winless streak, which consisted of 80% of draws. The Red-Blues started with such a result in the Champions League, when they didn't score a single goal against Shakhtar Donetsk. If by the end of October things in the championship began to improve for Italiano's wards, the starting draw in the Champions League was followed by three defeats. Of course, this result can be explained by the fact that all three meetings were held with teams from the top 8 of the standings, including two of them on English football fields - against Aston Villa and Liverpool. However, first and foremost, Bologna should explain themselves on the football pitch, having broken a series of defeats on Wednesday. Before the twelfth round of Ligue 1, Lille had a ten-match unbeaten streak. However, this was not the case from the opening matches of the season. For example, from the last match of August to mid-September, the Doges lost four straight. Of course, the key events for Lille in the current season were victories over Madrid teams, but there it was possible to perform "second number", which Bologna will not give them in the upcoming meeting. We bet that the hosts will not lose to the French at home.