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BOLOGNA, ITALY – MARCH 08: Kieron Bowie of Hellas Verona scores his team’s second goal during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and Hellas Verona FC at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on March 08, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Hellas Verona caused a huge upset with this comeback victory away to Bologna, sealed by Kieron Bowie’s debut Serie A goal.
The Rossoblu put their recent crisis behind them with three consecutive victories and were gearing up for the Europa League Round of 16 against Roma. Remo Freuler was suspended, with Juan Miranda and Torbjorn Heggem injured, but Charalampos Lykogiannis returned. Rock bottom Verona added Armel Bella-Kotchap and Tobias Slotsager to the injury list with Sandi Lovric, Pol Lirola, Antoine Bernede and Suat Serdar, but Gift Orban was back after a two-match ban.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Santiago Castro’s swerving finish flashed wide from distance, then slipped at the crucial moment on a Jonathan Rowe pull-back.
Verona also threatened on the counter-attack, Lukasz Skorupski getting down to parry the Orban angled drive, while Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro’s shot accidentally hit teammate Orban.
Nadir Zortea drilled inches wide, but Bologna had a huge opportunity at the dawn of the second half when Riccardo Orsolini’s volley on a corner thumped the base of the upright.
The breakthrough came moments later, when Rowe started the move, spreading it down the right with Jens Odgaard and the Zortea pull-back, finding Rowe to sweep first-time through a sea of legs into the far bottom corner. It was his first Serie A goal.
It didn’t last long, as Verona responded immediately with a similar Martin Frese strike from the edge of the area, gathering a poor clearance.
Remarkably, Hellas then turned the game around on the counter-attack, as Orban got down the left and rolled across for the totally unmarked Kieron Bowie to sweep in undisturbed. This too was a debut Serie A goal for the ex-Hibernian striker.
Bowie fired another attempt wide from distance, but Lorenzo Montipò got down for a fantastic save to fingertip the Odgaard strike out from the near bottom corner from the edge of the area.
There was controversy on 85 minutes when Roberto Gagliardini pushed Benjamin Dominguez on the edge of the area, but the referee waved play on, allowing Amin Sarr to sprint away from Jhon Lucumi and score the third for Verona. However, it was disallowed following the VAR review, as Gagliardini had both hands on the back of Dominguez.
Federico Bernardeschi’s free kick went over, then Castro couldn’t steer his cross on target.
Bologna 1-2 Verona
Rowe 49 (B), Frese 53 (V), Bowie 57 (V)
08-03-2026 14:00
MatchDay 28
Renato Dall’Ara StadiumBolognaVerona1 – 2
Player statistic
| 16' | Kieron Bowie |
| Lewis Ferguson | 40' |
| 42' | Abdou Harroui |
| Jonathan Rowe(Assist: Nadir Zortea) | 49' |
| 53' | Martin Frese |
| 57' | Kieron Bowie(Assist: Gift Orban) |
Match statistic
68
Possession %
32
19
Total shots
15
2
Shots on target
5
10
Shots off target
7
7
Blocked shots
3
5
Corners
3
1
Offsides
4
5
Fouls
20
Bologna
Verona
Starting lineups
1
Lukasz Skorupski
Goalkeeper
26
Jhon Lucumí
Defender
17
João Mário
Defender
41
Martin Vitik
Defender
84′
20
Nadir Zortea
Defender
77′
11
Jonathan Rowe
Midfielder
77′
19
Lewis Ferguson
Midfielder
66′
6
Nikola Moro
Midfielder
21
Jens Odgaard
Attacker
7
Riccardo Orsolini
Attacker
66′
9
Santiago Castro
Attacker
1
Lorenzo Montipò
Goalkeeper
5
Andrias Edmundsson
Defender
2
Daniel Oyegoke
Defender
82′
12
Domagoj Bradaric
Defender
3
Martin Frese
Defender
15
Victor Nelsson
Defender
21
Abdou Harroui
Midfielder
74′
11
Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro
Midfielder
63
Roberto Gagliardini
Midfielder
16
Gift Orban
Attacker
90′
18
Kieron Bowie
Attacker
82′
Substitutes
29
Lorenzo De Silvestri
Defender
16
Nicolò Casale
Defender
13
Federico Ravaglia
Goalkeeper
28
Nicolò Cambiaghi
Attacker
24
Thijs Dallinga
Attacker
25
Massimo Pessina
Goalkeeper
5
Eivind Helland
Defender
10
Federico Bernardeschi
Attacker
66′
23
Simon Sohm
Midfielder
66′
22
Charalampos Lykogiannis
Defender
77′
30
Benja Domínguez
Attacker
77′
4
Tommaso Pobega
Midfielder
84′
34
Simone Perilli
Goalkeeper
36
Cheikh Niasse
Attacker
94
Giacomo Toniolo
Goalkeeper
25
Daniel Mosquera
Attacker
70
Fallou Cham
Defender
7
Rafik Belghali
Defender
41
Isaac
Attacker
10
Tomas Suslov
Attacker
74′
9
Amin Sarr
Attacker
82′
6
Nicolás Valentini
Defender
82′
73
Moatasem Al-Musrati
Midfielder
90′
