Bologna 0-1 Lazio: Frattesi inspires narrow win to ease pressure on Gattuso

An immediate goal from summer signing and Italy international Davide Frattesi gave new Lazio head coach Gennaro Gattuso a 1-0 victory in his first Serie A match in charge away against Bologna at the Dall’Ara on Monday evening.

This was Domenico Tedesco’s first competitive match in charge of Bologna and Gattuso’s first league match as head coach of Lazio.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – AUGUST 24: Gennaro Gattuso, Head Coach of Lazio, interacts with Domenico Tedesco, Head Coach of Bologna FC 1909 before the Serie A match between Bologna FC and SS Lazio at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on August 24, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images) Tedesco handed a first league start to summer recruit Roberto Piccoli at centre-forward, while Gattuso named an unchanged starting XI despite Lazio’s Coppa Italia first-round defeat by Mantova last weekend, led by Matteo Cancellieri, Bobulaye Dia and Mattia Zaccagni in attack.

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

It was an end-to-end and evenly-contested first half at the Dall’Ara in an opening 45 minutes that was lacking in quality in either final third. The half-time stats tell the story: A 46:54 spread of possession, four shots for Bologna, five for Lazio but only one apiece on target, neither of which were particularly threatening.

Petty fouls also had an impact on the first half: There were five yellow cards dished out before the interval and Bologna head coach Tedesco was sent off in his first Serie A match in charge of the Rossoblu for his excessive complaints on the touchline.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – AUGUST 24: Andrea Tarozzi, Assistant Coach of Bologna FC 1909 reacts during the Serie A match between Bologna FC and SS Lazio at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on August 24, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images) Zaccagni squeezed a shot just wide of the post from the left-hand side of the area early on. Piccoli briefly threatened down at the other end with a swivelling half-volley from an awkward corner delivery.

Nadir Zortea came up with Bologna’s most threatening effort of the first half, but that was only because of an enormous deflection off Oliver Provstgaard that completely wrong-footed Christos Mandas in goal. He was relieved to see it bounce behind for a corner.

Boulaye Dia did have the ball in the back of the net midway through the half, but was clearly in an offside position when Danilho Doekhi sent a long ball over the top.

Lazio’s only shot on target of the first half came from a tamely-hit Pedraza shot from the edge of the area, which caused no issue at all for Lukasz Skorupski.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – AUGUST 24: Boulaye Dia of Lazio clashes with Oussama El Azzouzi of Bologna FC 1909 during the Serie A match between Bologna FC and SS Lazio at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on August 24, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images) The first moment of real quality came from Lazio goalkeeper Christos Mandas just after half-time: Lewis Ferguson delivered the cross after a short, quick corner from Juan Miranda, and Mandas, back from his loan spell with Bournemouth, pulled out an excellent save at full stretch to stop Jens Odgaard’s header, which would have otherwise ended up in the bottom corner of the net.

The defining moment of the second half was the introduction of Italy international Frattesi, who has recently joined Lazio on loan with a buy option from Inter.

It took just four minutes for Frattesi to score with what was his first shot of the game, and his first in a competitive match for Lazio. Dia did excellently to send the Italian through on goal with a flick around the corner, and Frattesi made no mistake in dispatching past Skorupski with a first-time finish.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – AUGUST 24: Davide Frattesi of Lazio celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammates Kenneth Taylor and Mattia Zaccagni during the Serie A match between Bologna FC and SS Lazio at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on August 24, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images) The best response that Bologna could come up with before full-time was a Federico Bernardeschi free-kick, which was tipped onto the post by the fingertip of the impressive Mandas a quarter of an hour before the 90th minute.

We are only one game into the 2026-27 Serie A season, but Lazio currently find themselves in joint-sixth in the standings, while Bologna end the opening weekend in joint-15th.

Bologna 0-1 Lazio Frattesi 59’.

24-08-2026 17:30

MatchDay 1

Renato Dall'Ara Stadium

Bologna

Lazio

0 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

22'

Romano Floriani Mussolini

Oussama El Azzouzi

34'

34'

Boulaye Dia

Nicolò Cambiaghi

41'

44'

Matteo Cancellieri

2nd half

59'

Davide Frattesi (Assist: Boulaye Dia)

Jens Odgaard

83'

Torbjørn Heggem

83'

90+3'

Oliver Provstgaard

Match statistic

59

Possession %

41

14

Total shots

10

5

Shots on target

3

6

Shots off target

5

3

Blocked shots

2

8

Corners

6

2

Offsides

3

18

Fouls

19

Bologna

Lazio

Starting lineups

1

Lukasz Skorupski Goalkeeper

5

Eivind Helland Defender

33

Juan Miranda Defender

20

Nadir Zortea Defender

69'

14

Torbjørn Heggem Defender

19

Lewis Ferguson Midfielder

17

Oussama El Azzouzi Midfielder

79'

21

Jens Odgaard Attacker

28

Nicolò Cambiaghi Attacker

60'

7

Riccardo Orsolini Attacker

60'

91

Roberto Piccoli Attacker

60'

35

Christos Mandas Goalkeeper

77

Adam Marusic Defender

19'

23

Alfonso Pedraza Defender

78'

5

Danilho Doekhi Defender

25

Oliver Provstgaard Defender

7

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru Midfielder

54'

24

Kenneth Taylor Midfielder

6

Nicolò Rovella Midfielder

19

Boulaye Dia Attacker

79'

22

Matteo Cancellieri Attacker

46'

10

Mattia Zaccagni Attacker

Substitutes

4

Tommaso Pobega Midfielder

29

Lorenzo De Silvestri Defender

6

Nikola Moro Midfielder

41

Martin Vitik Defender

23

Rahim Alhassane Defender

25

Massimo Pessina Goalkeeper

72

Ukko Happonen Goalkeeper

18

Marco Libra Midfielder

10

Federico Bernardeschi Attacker

60'

9

Artem Dovbyk Attacker

60'

11

Jonathan Rowe Midfielder

60'

2

Emil Holm Defender

69'

8

Mikel Amondarain Midfielder

79'

29

Manuel Lazzari Defender

13

Alessio Romagnoli Defender

21

Reda Belahyane Midfielder

47

Davide Renzetti Goalkeeper

40

Edoardo Motta Goalkeeper

20

Petar Ratkov Attacker

71

Valerio Farcomeni Midfielder

28

Adrian Przyborek Attacker

33

Ricardo Bordon Defender

15

Romano Floriani Mussolini Defender

19'

11

Gustav Isaksen Attacker

46'

16

Davide Frattesi Midfielder

54'

17

Nuno Tavares Defender

78'

14

Tijjani Noslin Attacker

79'