The two teams have appointed new head coaches, with Domenico Tedesco taking over at Bologna and Gennaro Gattuso starting his tenure at Lazio. Both sides will be looking to improve on their 2025-26 finishes, with Bologna ending the season in eighth place and Lazio finishing ninth.
Bologna have had a relatively steady summer transfer window, losing Santiago Castro to Roma and Jhon Lucumi to Juventus, but bringing in new attackers Roberto Piccoli and Artem Dovbyk, as well as midfielder Mikel Amondarain and left-back Rahim Alhassane. Lazio, on the other hand, have welcomed Davide Frattesi on loan with a buy option from Inter, as well as centre-back Josip Sutalo from Ajax, plus defenders Danilho Doekhi and Alfonso Pedraza on free transfers.
Tedesco has named new signing Piccoli at centre-forward for Monday's clash against Lazio, flanked by Riccardo Orsolini to his right and Nicolo Cambiaghi to his left. Gattuso starts with new signings Doekhi and Pedraza in defence, but otherwise, it is a relatively familiar Lazio XI with Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Nicolo Rovella, and Kenneth Taylor in midfield, and Matteo Cancellieri, Boulaye Dia, and Mattia Zaccagni in attack.
Kick-off is due at 17.30 BST.