Lewis Ferguson wows in fluent Italian interview as Scotland teammate benefits from bilingual ace's huge praise

The Serie A side’s captain is expected to lead his side out at the Renato Dall'Ara Stadium on Thursday night in the first leg of the quarter-final match, where he will go up against long-term Scotland teammate John McGinn, in a battle to reach the final four of the competition.

Ferguson piled praise on his midfield counterpart ahead of the tie. It was his ability to flip between English and Italian to describe McGinn’s key strengths that took the headlines as he spoke to the media during a pre-match press conference in northern Italy.

“I’ve played with him for three or four years,” said Ferguson. “He's very good, as you know, he is a very strong player. He’s a top player and a top guy. They are a side which is filled with players at the top level and have a top manager too. We believe that we have a squad here that can do something special.”

Bologna boss Vincenzo Italiano also praised the versatility of Scottish talisman, citing on his on pitch intelligence as a key factor in Thursday night’s game.

“McGinn, I think, in the first match was a winger, and then in the last match was a midfielder,” said Italiano, referencing the previous two encounters between the sides. “He is a very intelligent player, and their coach, when he needs him to play in different positions, does that. He is good at shooting from far and attacks deep into the goal. We will see what position he is in tomorrow, and then we will see what to do,”

The teams’ third game against each other in the last 18 months, McGinn has proven to be a thorn in the side of I Rossoblu, having scored in Aston Villa’s 2-0 win against them in the Champions League last season, before grabbing the the only goal of the game as Unai Emery’s side won 1-0 against Bologna in the League Phase of the Europa League earlier this season.

However, with the English Premier League set to play in Italy for the first time in 31 years, former Aberdeen midfielder Ferguson is hoping home advantage can see the tie swing in their favour this time as they look to progress to the final four of the competition.

“He's their captain and he’s already scored twice against us,” said Ferguson. “Recently, in the last week or so, we haven’t spoken about the game], but we did speak before that in the international break. There is nothing to speak about. We are just looking forward to another challenge against him. Tomorrow in midfield will be an interesting and difficult match at the same time.”

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