The Rossoblù’s reactions to Bologna 1-3 Aston Villa | OneFootball

Vincenzo Italiano shared his thoughts on tonight’s defeat: “It was an intense, high-level match against the favourites to win the trophy. Bologna showed courage and quality. It’s a real shame about the mistakes that made the scoreline turn out this way, but we’ll go to Birmingham and approach it the way we always do. We needed to be more alert on set pieces; we just can’t afford to concede goals like that.”

Jonathan Rowe spoke after today’s game: “We deserved more, and we were a bit unlucky. Sometimes football is strange. We played well and created a lot of chances, but we made too many mistakes and had to pay the price. It’s difficult to comment on a game like this because, aside from mistakes, we also didn’t have luck on our side. It’s promising that we still have the second leg to go, and anything can happen.”

Remo Freuler’s post-match comments: “In the end, it’s the finer details that make the difference. We played well, but we gave away too much and paid the price. We created a lot and probably didn’t deserve to lose, but on the European stage, we just can’t afford to make certain mistakes, as we saw today. It’s still all to play for. The last goal does complicate things, but nothing is impossible. We’ll go there and give it our everything.”

Federico Bernardeschi told Sky: “It’s disappointing to lose after dominating the first half. They scored three goals from three errors of ours, and unfortunately, in Europe, you can’t afford to make mistakes. We needed to stay focused because we were up against an experienced team with strong players, who made us pay for our lapses. When we were at 1–0, we responded and created some chances, but the second really brought down our momentum, and we shouldn’t have conceded at the last minute. A 3–1 scoreline is challenging to recover from, but it has to help us grow and mature. If we want to take a step forward, we need to stay focused until the end without making mistakes. The tie is still open, anything can happen, but tonight has to be a lesson for us.”

Lewis Ferguson commented at the end of the match: “They’re a very strong side, and we knew it would be a serious challenge. It’s frustrating to lose in this way because we started strong, dominating the first half and creating plenty of chances. Then their first goal came in the 44th minute, and in the second half, they made it 2–0 from one of our mistakes, which put us under pressure. We kept pushing until the end, but it just wasn’t enough. When playing at this level, it’s the small details that make the difference, and that was evident tonight. On Thursday, we’ll go to Villa Park to try and turn things around.”

Torbjørn Heggem shared his thoughts after today’s defeat:  “We played well, especially in the first half, but it wasn’t enough. In the second half, we conceded two goals and lacked our attacking threat. On Thursday, we’ll go to Birmingham without Lucumí.  He’s a very important player for us, but those of us who are on the pitch will try to secure a positive result.”