In Serie A last season, Bologna surprisingly finished in fifth place, earning a spot in the Champions League.
Last term, they outperformed Roma, Lazio, and Napoli, but their manager Thiago Motta moved to Juventus, and star players Riccardo Calafiori and Joshua Zirkzee transferred to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively during the summer.
The new domestic season has been challenging for Bologna, and they start their Champions League journey against Shakhtar Donetsk, who had a strong performance in the previous season, winning three out of six group matches, one of which was against Barcelona with a score of 1-0.
Team news
Bologna's Emil Holm, Nicolo Cambiaghi, Oussama El Azzouzi, and Scottish midfielder Lewis Ferguson are sidelined due to injuries. However, Swiss winger Dan Ndoye made a return as a substitute in the recent draw against Como.
Shakhtar Donetsk's goalkeeper Tymur Puzankov is facing a long-term knee injury, while midfielder Artem Bondarenko scored a hat-trick in their league victory over Karpaty last Saturday.
The stats
In their last nine Serie A matches, Bologna has drawn six times, with three of their recent four home games ending in a 1-1 scoreline.
Bologna has managed to keep clean sheets in eight of their last nine home wins.
Shakhtar Donetsk has won two of their last three Champions League games with a 1-0 result.
The Ukrainian champions have scored a total of 14 goals in five league matches this season.
Shakhtar has failed to score in just one out of their last 13 Champions League games.
Prediction
After their impressive fifth-place finish in Serie A last season, Bologna faced setbacks as key figures like manager Motta, player Calafiori, and Zirkzee moved to bigger clubs.
Under the new management of Vincenzo Italiano, Bologna has yet to secure a win in the first four Serie A games, recording draws against Udinese, Empoli, and Como, along with a 3-0 loss to Napoli.
Bologna has seen five consecutive home games ending in draws, making a draw a likely outcome against Shakhtar, a team with experience that narrowly missed out on the Champions League round of 16 in the previous season.
Despite their Europa League exit, Shakhtar remains a potent attacking threat, having scored in 12 of their last 13 Champions League matches, including matches against Real Madrid in October 2022 and a recent 5-2 league win over Karpaty.