The Turin outfit will hope to avoid another humiliating defeat by La Dea on Saturday night. Ola Aina is back at Torino after a year on loan at Fulham, but he probably won’t look forward to his first Serie A encounter this weekend.
The Turin side host Gian Piero Gasperini’s team at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino on Saturday evening looking to avoid a repeat of the 7–0 humiliation they suffered in January 2020. On that day, the Bergamo team ran riot on an unfortunate team, punishing them for several mistakes and taking advantage of the hosts’ pair of dismissals.
While Aina didn’t play in that ill-fated encounter, the full-back will remember events from that day all too vividly, having been a member of the Torino squad at the time.
The Bull have lost two of their last three games against the Gasperini-led team, including that humiliation, and could lose the third straight home game against this weekend’s visitors if they are beaten on the opening day of Serie A’s return.
They picked up a hard-fought Coppa Italia shoot-out victory over Cremonense on August 15, an encounter that sparked an unexpected reaction from Aina.
There seemed to be jeers directed at the Nigerian wide defender on his first competitive match since returning from a season-long spell with Fulham in the Premier League. Despite Aina winning an extra-time penalty in the 116th minute — Rolando Mandragora was thwarted by Cremonense goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi — and scoring the winning penalty in the shoot-out, he said his piece after the meeting.
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“To all the Torino fans that were booing or whistling whenever I got the ball tonight, THANK YOU,” Aina wrote on his official Twitter account. “Doubters and haters WILL only make me better, we move. As a club, we should always stay together no matter what.”
The ex-Chelsea man deleted the post afterward, but not after making his grievances public. This is in stark contrast to his assessment of the year-long spell he had in West London, even though Fulham eventually failed to beat the drop.
“I’ve loved it,” Aina told the Fulham website in late May. “I get asked this question all the time by a lot of people, and even though we’ve been relegated, I’ve loved every minute of this season. I’ve loved the challenge, the coaching staff, my teammates, and I’ve loved the club as well. I’ve loved this club, it’s a very nice club.
“The club has become a part of me, and a part of all the other loan players, and I think you can see that. Even though we’re here on loan, we’re all part of the same fight. I really think the loan boys have taken up the challenge.
“Off the pitch, we’ve always been very close with each other. We like each other’s company, so it’s been a really good group.
“We did really care about this season and how we did. It went wrong, but trust me, we really did care.”
Having been one of the better performers in Scott Parker’s final year at Craven Cottage, the West African now has to convince the Torino supporters of his worth to the side in multiple positions.
It remains to be seen if an encounter against a side they probably dread by now in Atalanta will be the perfect stage to bring fans on-side after Sunday’s disgraceful jeering.
In time, though, you expect the Nigerian to be accepted by disgruntled supporters in Turin.
Seye Omidiora is a passionate football writer and pundit whose deep appreciation for the beautiful game exceeds the usual. He is currently a columnist for Goal Africa and has previously written for Vital Football UK, IBCity Info, and Opera News.
