Who is Bologna? Italian surprise package aiming for historic Liverpool scalp
Liverpool will be aiming for a fifth straight win in all competitions when it takes on Bologna in the Champions League at Anfield on Wednesday.
The Reds began their European campaign in perfect fashion with a 3-1 victory over AC Milan at the San Siro earlier this month, with goals from Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai helping to overturn Christian Pulisic's early opener.
Arne Slot's side will now be aiming for another similar result when they take on more Italian opposition in the form of Bologna, which is making its debut appearance in the Champions League since the introduction of the group stage more than 30 years ago.
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So ahead of Wednesday's clash, Liverpool.com tells you all you need to know about this week's opponents, including who they are, how they qualified and what players can hurt Slot's side.
Who is Bologna?
Officially named Bologna FC 1909, Wednesday's visitor to Anfield is one of the founding members of Serie A and is competing in its 75th Serie A seasons - the ninth-most in Italian football history.
The club have won seven top-flight titles, two Coppa Italia titles, and one UEFA Intertoto Cup during its 115-year history, but hasn't tasted success since lifting the latter in 1998.
Nicknamed I Rossoblù (The Red and Blues), Bologna is currently managed by the appropriately named Vincenzo Italiano and competing in its 10th consecutive season in the Serie A.
How did they qualify?
Since winning promotion back to Serie A via the Serie B play-offs in 2014-15, Bologna has only achieved three top-half finishes in the last nine seasons - including the previous two. Last season, however, went down in Bologna club history.
Losing just six games all season, Bologna also won 18 of its 38 fixtures to earn a fifth-place finish in Serie A and secure the final automatic Champions League spot with 68 points - ensuring it would compete in Europe's top club competition for the first time since the 1964–65 season.
Under former manager Thiago Motta, who was pinched by Juventus during the summer, Bologna also finished the season with the third-best defense in the league, conceding just 32 goals all season, and defeated the likes of reigning champions Napoli, Roma, Atalanta, Fiorentina and Lazio along the way.
Current campaign
Bologna has so far failed to build on last season's remarkable fifth-place finish under new manager Vincenzo Italiano, drawing four of its first six fixtures and picking up just one victory in Serie A - a 2-1 win away to bottom club Monza on September 22.
With just seven goals scored and nine conceded, last seasons surprise package sit 13th in the Serie A league table, while it also unsurprisingly drew its Champions League opener with Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donestk a fortnight ago, with the game finishing 0-0.
After Liverpool, Bologna return to England to face Aston Villa in its next Champions League affair, before welcoming French duo Monaco and Lille in back-to-back home games. Two trips to Portugal to face Benfica and Sporting Lisbon round off proceedings either side of a home tie with Borussia Dortmund.
Players to watch
As with every club that does well in its league, Bologna has been stripped of its assets by Europe's bigger sides after securing a surprise fifth-place finish in Serie A last season.
That's seen Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori join Arsenal for $50m (£38m/€45m), while top scorer Joshua Zirkzee joined Manchester United for $47m (£35.4m/€42.5m). Veteran forward Marko Arnautovic also left for champions Inter Milan for $8.9m (£6.7m/€8m).
However, midfielder Remo Freuler joined from Nottingham Forest for $5m (£3.8m/€4.5m), 19-goal striker Thijs Dallinga arrived for $17m (£13m/€15m) from Toulouse, while former Juventus starlet Samuel Iling-Junior secured a season-long loan following his summer move to Aston Villa.