Harold Wilson once said a week was a long time in politics. But it is a short time in football, particularly when you’re Bologna coach Alberto Malesani (Bologna 10/3 to beat Parma) .
Before last week’s game against AC Milan, the Rossoblu had looked like being able to pull away from the foot of the Serie A table, with three wins in four games.
But even Malesani was forced to admit the 3-0 defeat to Milan was a “defensive disaster”, and the question is whether he will have been able to do anything about that by the time they visit Parma on Sunday.
The Rossoblu are 14th in the table, just four points outside the relegation zone, and Malesani said about the Milan game: “I had demanded that my players put more pressure on the ball but they didn’t do it.
“We have to be more focused and remain humble if we are to avoid the drop this season.”
Problem for Malesani is that his team are poor travellers. While at home they only average 0.75 goals conceded per game, on the road it is 2.12.
One of the things that could come to Bologna’s rescue is that their defeats have come against quality teams.
The Rossoblu have not lost to a team below 11th in the table (in fact their 1-1 draw against Catania is the only time they have not won such a game), so they aim to keep that run going against a Parma side who are currently 16th.
Parma have an extra bounce in their step after beating Fiorentina 2-1 in midweek to make it through to the quarter finals of the Coppa Italia (Parma 3/ 4 to beat Bologna).
Parma coach Pasquale Marino hopes the victory will help erase the memory of last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Palermo – the club’s second in three games.
“The victory against Fiorentina was important for the morale of my players,” said Marino.
“The Coppa Italia is one of our aims. We now have a very important game against Bologna.We have to ride the wave of enthusiasm and take three points on Sunday.”
The visitors will be without midfielder Gaby Mundigayi, who is suspended.
Only one of Parma’s defeats so far this season has come at home – the 1-0 defeat to AC Milan on October 2.
Atletico Madrid can forget all about the Europa League and concentrate on qualifying for the Champions League when they take on lowly Malaga (Atletico 23/20 to beat Malaga).
Atletico’s hopes of defending their Europa League crown ended on Thursday when a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen saw them exit at the group stage.
It was their previous match, at home to Aris Thessaloniki, that was key to their downfall as they conceded twice in the second half to lose 3-2.
Now they travel to third-bottom Malaga, where a victory could help them close the five-point gap to Espanyol in the fourth Champions League spot.
Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores said: “Now the only thing that we have to do is accept the consequences and forget about it as soon as possible. We hope that the return to Europe will be through the front door and into Champions League.”
Atletico bounced back from successive league defeats to beat Deportivo La Coruna 2-0 last weekend, lifting them up to sixth.
Malaga, under new coach Manuel Pellegrini, have won their last two home Primera Liga games including a 4-1 win over Racing Santander (Malaga 23/10 to beat Atletico).
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