Riccardo Calafiori’s first goal for Italy arrived at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, the ground where his career took its most important turn. Back in Bologna with the national team, the defender restored Italy’s lead against Türkiye in the second half before Francesco Pio Esposito completed a 3–1 Nations League victory.
Calafiori arrived at Bologna in 2023 after a season with Basel and quickly became one of the central figures in Thiago Motta’s side. His development in central defence coincided with a historic season for the club, as Bologna finished fifth in Serie A and qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 60 years. It was also the season that changed Calafiori’s own trajectory, taking him from a promising young defender to the senior Italy squad.
By the end of that summer, he had represented the Azzurri at EURO 2024 and earned a move to Arsenal. The progression was rapid, but Bologna remained an important part of the story: it was there that Calafiori established himself at the level required to become an Italy international.
His return to the Dall’Ara brought that journey back to where it accelerated. Calafiori described scoring his first Azzurri goal in Bologna as feeling “written in the stars,” a fitting reflection on a city that helped reshape his career. This time, he returned to the stadium not as the player trying to establish himself, but as an Italy international marking another significant step in his rise.
