Bologna staged an impressive comeback to beat Celta Vigo 2-1, jumping above the Spanish side in the UEFA Europa League league-phase standings and extending their unbeaten run in the competition to five matches.
The Italians settled quickly, with Federico Bernardeschi firing an early warning that Ionut Radu dealt with comfortably. Juan Miranda also threatened when his cross flashed just beyond Santiago Castro’s leap.
Miranda later escaped punishment for shoving Borja Iglesias while challenging for possession, and it was down his flank that Celta struck first after 17 minutes.
A quickly-taken free-kick released Sergio Carreira, who linked with Williot Swedberg. The in-form youngster powered into the box, shrugged off Charalampos Lykogiannis, and unselfishly squared for Bryan Zaragoza to slot in.
Celta’s advantage almost vanished soon after when Carl Starfelt’s weak backpass was pounced on by Jonathan Rowe, but the Bologna man prodded narrowly wide.
Castro continued to ask questions of the home defence, yet the visitors were fortunate not to fall further behind when goalkeeper Federico Raviglia gifted the ball to Swedberg—only for the midfielder to slip on the wet surface.
Castro had another effort blocked by the onrushing Radu before halftime, after which an injured Zaragoza made way for Hugo Alvarez.
Bernardeschi remained Bologna’s main spark, and he appeared to have created the leveller close to the hour mark when he beat Oscar Mingueza and set up Tommaso Pobega—only for the offside flag to cut celebrations short.
Moments later, confusion reigned. Pobega was initially ruled offside after going down under Javi Rodriguez’s challenge in the box, but VAR overturned both decisions, confirming the midfielder was onside and had been fouled. Bernardeschi coolly buried the resulting penalty.
Celta boss Rafa Benítez responded with a triple change, but substitute Iago Aspas immediately surrendered possession to Nicolò Cambiaghi, who slipped the ball to Bernardeschi.
The winger drove forward and fired low past Radu to complete the turnaround.
Bologna saw out the final stages to climb to 13th place, moving into the seeded spots for the knockout-phase play-offs.
The victory also marked their first pair of consecutive away wins in major European competition since November 1998.
