Bologna boss creates atmosphere at Anfield after Champions League defeat against Liverpool

Bologna coach Vincenzo Italiano commented on the atmosphere at Anfield after his side's 2-0 Champions League defeat to Liverpool

Vincenzo Italiano has admitted he was impressed by the atmosphere at Anfield during Bologna's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday night. Goals in both halves from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah ensured the Reds' first home game in the competition since February 2023 ended in a hard-fought 2-0 win.

Having qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 1964 following a fifth-place finish in Serie A last season, Bologna proved to be a difficult opponent.

The Italians refused to move for Arne Slot's side, who had won seven of their eight games in all competitions before the encounter

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But Bologna coach Italiano revealed he and his players were impressed by the atmosphere at Anfield in the early stages of the game before Mac Allister opened the scoring in the 11th minute by converting Salah's cross.

“Playing in a stadium like this makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,” said the 46-year-old in his press conference after the game.

“The opposition players playing at home feel excited by this support around the stadium. I think in the first few minutes we had a hard time dealing with it.”

He added: “Me and the rest of the team feel like we have to take something from this.”

“We will show them snippets of the beautiful moments they had in certain areas in midfield and tell them that this is the Bologna we want to see by the end of the season.”

Italiano's opponent Slot was happy to celebrate his first Champions League game at Anfield as Reds boss with a win.

“It was a good first experience because it was a win,” he said. “It wasn't easy, but that's normal when you play in the Champions League. There is always a lot of resistance, many good teams play in the Champions League and Bologna is one of them.

“You can also see the results tonight where we may have seen some surprising results. It was nice to win. No goals conceded, some good individual performances. Overall positive.”