The result, however, could not close the three-point gap to Atalanta in the standings, nor overturn the head-to-head deficit from the first meeting between the sides. Bologna finish the campaign without European football.
That arithmetic is the sharpest lens through which to read Orsolini's season. Nine goals and one assist across 34 Serie A appearances, with an average match rating of 6.80, represent a consistent if not transformative contribution from a 29-year-old who has long been the most recognisable attacking name in Vincenzo Italiano's squad. The numbers are solid. They are not the numbers of a player who has dragged a mid-table side into Europe on his own.
What they do reflect is reliability. Bologna finished 8th with 55 points from 37 matches — 16 wins, 7 draws, 14 defeats — a season that was competitive without being decisive. Orsolini's goal against Atalanta was emblematic of that: a winner that mattered on the day, in a match that no longer altered the broader picture. He has scored goals against Milan at San Siro and now against Atalanta at Bergamo, results that confirm he performs in difficult venues. The team around those performances, however, has not been consistent enough to convert individual quality into collective European qualification.
The summer will bring its own complications. Speculation around Italiano's future at the club has circulated, with the coaching landscape across Serie A in flux. If the manager changes, Orsolini's role and value within the system could shift considerably. He is not a player who thrives in every tactical context, and at 29, with an AI overall rating of 74 and a projected potential of 60, the data suggests a player at or near his ceiling rather than one still ascending.
None of that diminishes what he contributed this season. Orsolini was Bologna's most direct attacking threat, and the goal at Bergamo was a fitting final act. But a club that finished eighth, 55 points, outside Europe, needs more than one reliable scorer to move forward. Whether Orsolini is part of the answer to that problem, or whether this was a dignified conclusion to his time in Emilia, is the question the summer will answer.