Fighting leukemia, Mihajlovic inspires Bologna to 2nd place
ROME (AP) — Sinisa Mihajlovic’s fight against leukemia continues to inspire Bologna, which has surprisingly surged into second place three rounds into Serie A.
The coach was absent from a 4-3 comeback win over 10-man Brescia on Sunday but his halftime speech via telephone made a resounding impact.
“We’re playing like this thanks to his mentality. At the end of the first half he transmitted his anger to us,” Bologna forward Rodrigo Palacio said. “In the second half we came out with the necessary desire and a great mentality.”
Brescia led 3-1 at the break with a brace from Alfredo Donnarumma but Daniela Dessena was sent off after a dive early in the second half. Palacio then started the comeback, which was followed by an own-goal from Brescia’s Stefano Sabelli and the winner from Riccardo Orsolini.
Mattia Bani scored Bologna’s opening goal and Andrea Cistana scored Brescia’s third.
It’s the first time Bologna has gained seven points from its opening three matches in 17 years.
Bologna is two points behind perfect Inter Milan and ahead of eight-time defending champion Juventus on goals scored (six to five).
Torino can extend its perfect start against promoted Lecce on Monday.
In the previous round, Bologna beat Spal 1-0 with an injury-time goal from Roberto Soriano.
While he has been receiving chemotherapy, Mihajlovic surprised his squad by traveling to the season opener at Hellas Verona, which ended 1-1.
Mihajlovic was rehired by Bologna in January to replace Filippo Inzaghi and engineered a complete turnaround for a team that was fighting off relegation, leading the club to a 10th place finish.
When Mihajlovic announced in July that he had an acute form of leukemia, the club said it would still keep him in charge.
Brescia is still without Mario Balotelli, who is serving a four-match ban from last season in the French league.
ROMA ROMPS
Roma earned its first win under new coach Paulo Fonseca with a four-goal outburst in the first half of a 4-2 victory over Sassuolo.
Bryan Cristante, Edin Dzeko, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Justin Kluivert each scored before halftime with a trio of assists from Lorenzo Pellegrini.
Domenico Berardi then pulled two back for Sassuolo after the break.
Mkhitaryan scored on debut after being loaned from Arsenal with his first shot on goal, an accurate angled drive.
OTHER RESULTS
Atalanta warmed up for its Champions League debut with a last-ditch 2-1 win at Genoa courtesy of Duvan Zapata’s strike five minutes into stoppage time. Having finished a club-record third last season, Atalanta opens the elite European competition at Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.
An injury-time winner from Jasmin Kurtic helped Spal to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over visiting Lazio.
Also, defender Luca Ceppitelli scored twice for Cagliari in a 3-1 victory at Parma.
