Bologna beat AC Milan in Coppa Italia final to end 51-year wait for silverware

STADIO OLIMPICO (Rome) - Nobody in the city of Bologna will ever forget where they were, who they were with, and what they experienced on the night of Wednesday, 14 May, 2025. Whether spent in Bologna or in the Eternal City, the night the Rossoblu beat AC Milan to win the Coppa Italia and end their 51-year wait for a trophy will be etched for eternity into the minds of everybody affiliated with the city.

And for those same reasons, Dan Ndoye will forever be remembered as the man who ended that wait. He scored the winning goal against Milan - and not for the first time this season. His strike in front of the Bologna fans packed into the Olimpico’s Curva Nord is one that every Rossoblu supporter will be picturing as they doze off - if they ever do - to sleep on Wednesday night, or, more likely, at some time on Thursday morning. 

Plenty who made the trip to the capital from Emilia-Romagna would have been fearing that Bologna might freeze on the big stage, and they wouldn’t be the first side to do so in a final. 

Early on, those fears looked like they may just become reality, with Rafael Leao evidently up for the occasion and toying with the Rossoblu from the off. But Emil Holm grew into the game, and soon started to control the Milan No.10, while also managing to get forward in an attempt to do damage to the Rossoneri as well.

Bologna probably should have led even during Milan's strong start. A free-kick from the right curled in and was glanced on by Santiago Castro, whose diversion was parried by Mike Maignan. The French goalkeeper’s heart would have been in his mouth as he saw it fall to Giovanni Fabbian, but he couldn’t sort his feet out quickly enough to turn it back on target. 

It was Vincenzo Italiano's side who dominated the possession then after Milan's bright start, but there weren’t all that many clear-cut opportunities, and they had Lukasz Skorupski's cat-like reflexes to thank for somehow keeping the Rossoneri at bay around the quarter of an hour mark. 

With Milan and their fans increasingly frustrated by referee Maurizio Mariani's officiating, things reached a boiling point on half time as Lewis Ferguson flung himself at the legs of Leao, stopping a swift breakaway, and doing serious damage to his own nose in the process. Tempers flared, the Milan bench were on the pitch, and the Rossoneri were demanding more than just a yellow card for the Scot. 

Half-time came soon after, though not before Christian Pulisic was booked to spark more anger in the Milan ranks, and Leao had to be dragged away from Mariani towards the tunnel by Youssouf Fofana.  

Shortly after the break, and in front of their own fans, Bologna got the breakthrough. The ball fell Dan Ndoye's way in the box and he kept his cool, taking his time to meander into some space before firing past Maignan. 

The most damning aspect of Milan's showing from there on was that there was little, if anything, to it. No hunger. No fight. No bite. No ideas. Bologna had plenty. Both Ferguson and Sam Beukema had, at points, their once-white shirts soaked in blood as a clear sign of what they were giving to the cause.

Milan looked every bit the mid-table side they’ve been for most of this season, and that they’re still not technically ruled out in the race for Champions League qualification was made all the more bizarre to think.

That energy appeared to spill into the stands too, and all of the noise in the Olimpico was coming from the left of the press box in the Curva Nord.

Italiano made changes - Riccardo Orsolini, Castro and Ndoye all came off, but Milan still didn’t take that as an invitation to get involved in the game.

And so there was to be no comeback, no late twists. Bologna, without much fuss, got the job done.