The hosts suffered a blow in the build-up to this contest when the in-form Riccardo Orsolini was ruled out with an abdominal problem, while for the visitors, top scorer Ciro Immobile was also unavailable during a season which has been punctuated by injury.
Despite Monday’s disappointing loss at Torino, the Rossoblu are still right in the mix for a top-six finish and started on the front foot against Maurizio Sarri’s men.
However, the first big chance of the first half fell the way of the visitors on 15 minutes as Luis Alberto threaded a lovely pass through to Pedro, but the former Chelsea forward slipped and miscued his effort.
Not long afterwards, a poor backpass from Stefan Posch put his goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski under pressure, but the ex-Roma stopper just cleared his lines with Felipe Anderson in close attendance.
Skorupski’s opposite number Ivan Provedel was then given a fright as Lewis Ferguson’s stooping header from Giorgios Kyriakopoulos’ flighted cross crashed off the post, before Musa Barrow drew a smart save from Provedel having already hit several shots off target.
The game was starting to come alive as Skorupski rushed off his line to deny Alberto and Anderson in quick succession, with Posch heading wide when off balance from a corner at the other end - although the Austria international would’ve been disappointed he didn’t test Provedel.
Within two minutes of the restart, Kyriakopoulos saw his strike agonisingly dribble wide, while for Lazio, Anderson would have been seething after weaving into the box brilliantly, only for Mattia Zaccagni to make a hash of the Brazilian’s lay-off when he had time to steady himself.
Striker Joshua Zirkzee was introduced by Thiago Motta shortly before the hour in an attempt to break the deadlock, but the Dutchman wasn’t provided with much decent service as Barrow’s 25-yard curler late on was the closest either team came after the break.
Lazio are now just one point behind Inter after the Nerazzurri’s shock defeat at Spezia, while Bologna have moved above Juventus into seventh, within six points of the European places.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lukasz Skorupski (Bologna)
