Bologna v Atalanta: the brainteaser

Saturday night in Bologna for Atalanta! After three back-to-back home games, the Nerazzurri will close their September commitments in the Felsinean city: 20:45 CEST kick-off at the Dall'Ara stadium.

How many games did Emil Holm play for Atalanta?

Compared to last season's game, the former Nerazzurri have doubled in the meantime: in addition to Remo Freuler (260 appearances, which make him the 10th most-capped player in the history of the Club) and Riccardo Orsolini (10 games), Nicolò Cambiaghi and Emil Holm have joined the red-and-blue ranks.

If, on one hand, the Swiss midfielder will be forever linked to his black-and-blue days and the Ascoli Piceno winger made it a touch-and-go with 10 games in his six-months spell; the Italian striker and the Swedish wingback couldn't be in a more antithetical situation: while the former never made a First Team appearance despite his 10 years tenure in the black-and-blue Academy (from 2009 to 2020); the latter collected 32 appearances in all competitions (22 in the Serie A, 3 in the Coppa Italia and 7 games in the UEFA Europa League) during his last-season loan spell which saw the Swede player co-habit with Davide Zappacosta across the right flank.

Emil Holm, pictured below while celebrating his goal as a Nerazzurro that sealed our home win against Frosinone last season

Bologna 1-2 Atalanta 2022/23 season, who assisted the two Nerazzurri goals?

A bumpy start for the Nerazzurri, with the home side taking an early lead on 6 minutes as Orsolini exacted the ex's law before nearing the brace three minutes later through a headed finish on Lykogiannis' cross. In the 17th the Greek wingback threatened for the hosts, forcing Musso to delect his banger over the bar. The second half opened up with Atalanta on the offensive, who levelled the score through a Koopmeiners rocket after Boga handed the ball to the Dutch mid on a silver platter.

Not content with providing the key pass for the equaliser, the Ivorian winger made a law unto himself to pull up the display that brought the black-and-blue comeback about through a solo performance littered with panache and physicality in equal parts: after getting ahold of the ball a few feet further the halfway line, Jérémie wrought havoc and made a beeline for the opposing box whilst drawing two opponents to himself like moths to a flame to break up Thiago Motta's defensive tactics before dishing out a pinpoint pass to Højlund. Left completely unmarked in the box, the Dane striker then nullified Skorupski's on-rushing attempt with a gentle lob to seal the black-and-blue comeback.

"Boga Nights": relive Jérémie's brace of assists with the highlights of the game!

Is it the first game to be played at 08:45 pm on a Saturday?

Out of the 63 previous encounters played in the Felsinean capitol across all competitions, only 4 times had the Dall'Ara stadium opened its gates to the Nerazzurri on a Saturday: records in fact show that the Bologna outing is usually more of either a Sunday gig (49 games) or a mid-week clash (8 the previous clashes held on a Wednesday across the Serie A, Serie B and the Coppa Italia) for Atalanta.

The roll call is missing both the two Monday Nights and, foremost, the four matchups played on a Saturday. Going in chronological order, the 2001/02 Serie A's MD1 together with the first leg of the Coppa Italia's RO16 that same year, the 2013/14 top-flight MD 31 3and last season's Week 17 fixture.

BUT which one out of these four games had kick-off fixed for 08:45 pm? Had you stuck to your hunch and spiked the odd one out, namely the Coppa Italia tie, you would have guessed right! As a further question for the true stats buffs out there, what was the outcome? A 2-2 draw courtesy of Comandini and Rossini