Italiano has high hopes for Ferguson after return from six-month injury lay-off | OneFootball

Bologna coach Vincenzo Italiano had nothing but good things to say about Scotland international Lewis Ferguson, who marked his return from a six-month injury lay-off in the final stages of Saturday’s 1-0 win over Lecce in Serie A.

Ferguson came on as an 82nd minute substitute for Switzerland international Remo Freuler, three minutes before Riccardo Orsolini found the net with the eventual match winner.

It was a long-awaited return for Ferguson, who had been out injured with a cruciate ligament (ACL) injury since the 0-0 draw with Monza in mid-April. The injury also kept him out of action during EURO 2024 over the summer.

Bologna coach delighted with Ferguson return

Italiano is delighted to have Ferguson back. During his post-match press conference, he spoke about the qualities the 25-year-old brings both on and off the pitch.

“I’m happy about Ferguson because I could already feel what he meant to the dressing room when I first got here. We were able to use him to give Freuler a break today,” Italiano said.

“We’re getting a great player back, a strong personality in the locker room. He doesn’t have more than 20 minutes in his legs at the moment, so we preferred to put him in a position where he could get a lot of touches of the ball, like he did.”

Bologna will next be in action on Tuesday evening, hosting Monaco in the fourth round of Champions League fixtures, before a trip to the Stadio Olimpico to play Roma next weekend.

Serie A will then take a break for the final international break of the calendar year.