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Serie A | Bologna 0-3 Milan: Who needs Mateta?

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Peter Young | Last updated Feb 3, 2026 4:40 PM ET

Milan were unable to seal a deadline day transfer for Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, but the Rossoneri were still celebrating after the window closed thanks to a 3-0 victory away against Bologna in Serie A in the absence of Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic on Tuesday night: Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christopher Nkunku and Adrien Rabiot with the goals at the Dall’Ara.

Bologna had only won one of their six Serie A matches in 2026 before kick-off, while Milan, coming off the back of a 1-1 draw with Roma last week, required a victory if they were to continue applying the pressure on Inter at the top of the league table.

Bologna were without suspended goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, and were also without star centre-back Jhon Lucumi through injury. There was no Pulisic, Alexis Saelemaekers or Santiago Gimenez in the Milan squad through injury. Leao was only fit enough for a spot on the bench, and with Niclas Fullkrug also named among the substitutes, there was a new Rossoneri strike partnership of Nkunku and Loftus-Cheek.

Click here to see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – FEBRUARY 03: Fans of Bologna during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and AC Milan at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on February 03, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Bologna started proceedings encouragingly through Juan Miranda and Jonathan Rowe and earned a series of free-kicks and corners which they were unable to capitalise from.

Milan started to grow into things after a quarter of an hour and came close to finding the back of the net after Zachary Athekame found the head of Youssouf Fofana with his cross in from the right flank. The Frenchman glanced his header just wide of the upright.

Milan found their opener two minutes later. Nkunku was allowed a free header in the area, which was initially saved by Federico Ravaglia. The goalkeeper parried the rebound into the feet of Adrien Rabiot, who tapped to Loftus-Cheek to finish from 10 yards out.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – FEBRUARY 03: Ruben Loftus-Cheek of AC Milan scores the opening goal during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and AC Milan at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on February 03, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Nkunku and Loftus-Cheek combined again to double the Rossoneri advantage 10 minutes before the interval. The Englishman slipped his strike partner into the area, Ravaglia came out in an attempt to stop him, but got the timing wrong and tripped Nkunku up in the box.

A penalty was awarded, a VAR check confirmed the correct decision was made, and Nkuku converted the spot kick low and to his right, sending Ravaglia the wrong way in the process.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – FEBRUARY 03: Christopher Nkunku of AC Milan competes for the ball with Federico Ravaglia of Bologna FC during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and AC Milan at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on February 03, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Moments after the second half kicked off, Juan Miranda sent a ludicrous long throw right into no-man’s land from within his own half. Rabiot spotted the opportunity, nicked the ball, raced through on goal and made no mistake one-on-one for 3-0.

Clear-cut opportunities began to dry up from that point onwards: Bologna were afforded plenty of possession in the second half, but were unable to do much to break down Milan’s block.

Niclas Fullkrug was sent through on goal after a long ball over the top after being introduced as a second half substitute. He chopped back inside Torbjorn Heggem, but ended up running straight into goalkeeper Ravaglia.

Realistically, the job was already done for Milan when Rabiot made it three just a few minutes into the second half. Their unbeaten run in Serie A is now up to 22 matches. They find themselves five points shy of league leaders Inter. Bologna, meanwhile, are stuck in 10th and could now drop into the bottom half of the table if they fail to win next weekend.

Bologna 0-3 Milan

Loftus-Cheek 20’, Nkunku 39’, Rabiot 48’.

BOLOGNA, ITALY – FEBRUARY 03: Ruben Loftus-Cheek of AC Milan celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A match between Bologna FC 1909 and AC Milan at Renato Dall’Ara Stadium on February 03, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

03-02-2026 19:45 MatchDay 23 Renato Dall'Ara Stadium

Bologna

Milan vs

Season Analytics

Bologna Positions Milan SEASON TOTAL BGN HOME 4 2 4 8 6 8

Last matches

25-01-2026	Genoa	L	3 - 2
18-01-2026	Fiorentina	L	1 - 2
15-01-2026

Verona W 2 - 3 10-01-2026 Como D 1 - 1 07-01-2026 Atalanta L 0 - 2

18-01-2026		Fiorentina	L	1 - 2
07-01-2026

Atalanta L 0 - 2 28-12-2025

Sassuolo D 1 - 1 14-12-2025

Juventus L 0 - 1 01-12-2025

Cremonese L 1 - 3 10 2 Position SEASON TOTAL MIL AWAY 6 5 0 13 8 1

Last matches

	1 - 1	D	Roma		25-01-2026
	1 - 0	W	Lecce

18-01-2026 1 - 3 W Como 15-01-2026 1 - 1 D Fiorentina 11-01-2026 1 - 1 D Genoa

08-01-2026

1 - 1

Roma

25-01-2026 1 - 3 W Como

15-01-2026 1 - 1 D Fiorentina

11-01-2026 0 - 1 W Cagliari

02-01-2026 2 - 3 W Torino

08-12-2025 Bologna Milan

Starting lineups

13 Federico Ravaglia Goalkeeper 33

Juan Miranda Defender 78' 20 Nadir Zortea Defender 16 Nicolò Casale Defender 14 Torbjørn Heggem Defender 11 Jonathan Rowe Midfielder 78' 19 Lewis Ferguson Midfielder 8

Remo Freuler Midfielder 65' 21

Jens Odgaard Attacker 7

Riccardo Orsolini Attacker 53' 9

Santiago Castro Attacker 54' 16

Mike Maignan Goalkeeper 33 Davide Bartesaghi Defender 83' 5 Koni De Winter Defender 46

Matteo Gabbia Defender 31

Strahinja Pavlovic Defender 24 Zachary Athekame Defender 67' 12

Adrien Rabiot Midfielder 14

Luka Modric Midfielder 72' 8

Ruben Loftus-Cheek Midfielder 67' 19

Youssouf Fofana Midfielder 18

Christopher Nkunku Attacker

72'

Substitutes

4 Tommaso Pobega Midfielder 23

Simon Sohm Midfielder 41

Martin Vitik Defender 17 João Mário Defender 30 Benja Domínguez Attacker 25 Massimo Pessina Goalkeeper 5 Eivind Helland Defender 82 Matteo Franceschelli Goalkeeper 10

Federico Bernardeschi Attacker 53' 24

Thijs Dallinga Attacker 54' 6

Nikola Moro Midfielder 65' 22

Charalampos Lykogiannis Defender 78' 28

Nicolò Cambiaghi Attacker 78' 1

Pietro Terracciano Goalkeeper 10

Rafael Leão Attacker 96 Lorenzo Torriani Goalkeeper 27

David Odogu Defender 23

Fikayo Tomori Defender 67' 4

Samuele Ricci Midfielder 67' 30

Ardon Jashari Midfielder 72' 9

Niclas Füllkrug Attacker 72' 2