Scotland hopeful ends long wait for Serie A goal with sublime finish as derby ends in draw

The former Hibs left-back opened the scoring in the first half at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara with a sublime side-footed finish from just inside the penalty area.

It was his first goal in the Italian top flight since October 3, 2022 while playing for Hellas Verona, although he has since netted twice for his current club in the Coppa Italia last season and Serie B in January 2025.

The 24-year-old is hoping to catch the eye of Scotland head coach Sebastien Pocognoli, who names his maiden squad the week after next for the Nations League quadruple header against Slovenia (twice), Switzerland and North Macedonia.

Doig was one of three Scots who started the Derby dell'Emilia , appearing alongside team-mate Kieron Bowie with Bologna midfielder Lewis Ferguson on the opposing side.

Bowie was heavily involved in Sassuolo's second goal, which came in the 56th minute shortly after Bologna had equalised through Roberto Piccolli's header from a corner kick.

Brilliant work from the ex-Hibs and Raith striker saw him hold off his marker before passing inside to Vasilije Adzic, who saw his first effort blocked before the ball fell kindly to be drilled into the bottom corner from 14 yards.

The goal looked to have won the match for Sassuolo until Artem Dovbyk struck in stoppage time, pouncing on a rebound in the box to rescue a point for Bologna, who had head coach Domenico Tedesco sent off for dissent on the touchline.

Doig's effort was the second goal scored by a Scot in Serie A this weekend.

Che Adams netted the winner for Torino in their 2-1 victory away at Fiorentina, finishing from close range in the 82nd minute to complete a fine comeback from a goal down and take all three points back to Turin.

It was Adams’ second goal of the season in Serie A - his first strike was an eye-catching one against AC Milan last month.

Fellow Scotland internationalist and right-back Nathan Patterson - who joined from Everton earlier this week - made his Torino debut in the match, coming on as a 56th-minute substitute, while Lithuanian midfielder Gvidas Gineitis played 70 minutes after coming close to joining Celtic in the final days of the transfer window.

Elsewhere in Serie A on Saturday, Napoli slipped to their second defeat in a row without their talisman Scott McTominay, who is undergoing minor heart surgery and will be out for the next month.

Napoli missed McTominay’s presence as they went down 3-2 to champions Internazionale at the San Siro, with the hosts scoring a stoppage-time winner through Lautaro Martinez.

Lennon Miller will hope to get more game-time for Udinese when they take on Lazio at home on Monday night.