Bologna 2-1 Monza: two penalties either side of a Pobega strike complete a third straight win

Monza were ahead inside six minutes, Gustavo Varela sending Lukasz Skorupski the wrong way from the penalty spot. It was the only time all afternoon Monza led. Tommaso Pobega levelled before the half-hour, and Federico Bernardeschi put Bologna in front from the spot themselves early in the second half, finishing off a 2-1 win at the Dall'Ara.

Two penalties, one winner

Varela's conversion on 6' was his second penalty goal of the season and continued a run in which he has rarely gone more than a couple of games without scoring. Pobega's reply, a finish from Juan Miranda's pass on 33', was the goal that mattered most — it meant Bologna went in level at the break rather than chasing the game. Bernardeschi's penalty on 59' then gave the hosts a lead they did not relinquish, even as both sides picked up a string of bookings in a game that grew increasingly niggly after the hour.

Match facts

• 6' — Gustavo Varela (Monza, penalty)
• 33' — Tommaso Pobega (Bologna), assisted by Juan Miranda
• 59' — Federico Bernardeschi (Bologna, penalty)

Line-ups

Bologna played a 3-4-2-1, Jens Odgaard and Federico Bernardeschi supporting no central striker ahead of Tommaso Pobega and Lewis Ferguson in midfield. Matteo Darmian, Artem Dovbyk and Samuel Mbangula — the hat-trick scorer at San Siro three days earlier — all came on in the second half.

Monza lined up in the same 3-4-2-1 shape, Dany Mota leading the line with Gustavo Varela and Exequiel Zeballos just behind him. Patrick Cutrone and Idrissa Touré were introduced from the bench as Monza chased a leveller that never arrived.

Bologna's third win in ten days

This was Bologna's third league win in a row, following on from victories over Cagliari and a 4-2 win at AC Milan earlier in the week, and it is the kind of run that changes how a mid-table season reads. Three wins out of three without conceding more than once in any of them has turned a side that spent September picking up one point at a time into one climbing the table at pace.

What it means for the table

Bologna move to 14 points and 8th place, level with both Napoli and Juventus but ahead of Juventus on goal difference — their +1 compares with a worse mark for the Bianconeri, the tiebreak that currently keeps Bologna above them in the table. Monza, beaten for the second match running after last week's 1-4 loss to Napoli, stay 16th on 7 points with a goal difference of -7, back-to-back defeats leaving them looking anxiously over their shoulder at the bottom three.