Meet the Bologna defender linked with Liverpool and singled out by Slot

Bologna is a beautiful city known for its culinary expertise, medieval architecture and a true Italian culture. But for most of the modern era, it has not been known worldwide for its football. On Wednesday night, that could change.

The club from Emilia-Romagna who dominated Italian football in the 1930s has been sleeping for more than half a century, with their last trophy coming in 1974. But against all the odds they qualified for the Champions League this season and, now, are on the verge of going one better.

Bologna will play AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday evening at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico knowing they can give their city the greatest party of modern times, topping last year’s celebrations in Piazza Maggiore to toast to getting a place in Europe’s elite competition.

And defender Sam Beukema, the Dutchman who speaks perfect English, has been at the heart of it all – though he may be too humble to admit as much. ‘I am really excited, of course,’ he tells Mail Sport. ‘We will give our all in the final to bring a trophy back to this club and the fans.

‘I am really motivated. Last year we experienced an amazing feast in the city with all the fans who came when we qualified for the Champions League. But if we can bring a real prize, a trophy, to this city, the fans will be even more proud of us. We want to bring it home to Bologna.

‘The food here is amazing, man. In Bologna they know how to cook! In Italy in general, the food is really good but Bologna… the city and people are really nice. A lot of respect when they approach you. It is a really nice place to live, a historical city with lots of really nice monuments.’

Beukema has been linked to Premier League clubs in recent months with Liverpool credited with an interest from Italian reports, while Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have also been mooted as a potential destination.

For now, though, he is loving life in Bologna and is only focused on winning the Coppa Italia.

One of the most interesting episodes of the defender’s career was when he went to the house of Liverpool boss Arne Slot. Beukema was at Go Ahead Eagles and had a decision to make over his next club, Feyenoord or AZ Alkmaar.

He explains: ‘I went round to his house. When I moved from Go Ahead Eagles to AZ, it was between AZ and Feyenoord, both were really interested in me. I talked with both of them. At that point Arne Slot was about to be the new coach of Feyenoord.

‘He invited me to his place, we had a really good conversation. You could tell he was a really good coach even though I did not play with him.

‘The way he spoke to me, the way he showed me some clips of me, I thought, “Wow, I did not think of that before, he thinks about football differently”. But in that period there were uncertainties at Feyenoord so I made my choice for AZ and never doubted it.’

Beukema was once in the top 10 in the world at playing FIFA and he still enjoys catching up with his Dutch pals on the PlayStation, when he is not sampling the Italian cuisine around the city.

One highlight of this season was playing at grand stadiums like Anfield and Villa Park in the Champions League and he managed to have a catch-up with his idol, Virgil van Dijk.

‘One of the best defenders in the world right now is Van Dijk, of course,’ he says. ‘He is Dutch so I look up to him. He is, I think, the best. He is a modern defender, I also like Ruben Dias and Alessandro Bastoni. They are the three I look up.

‘I spoke a bit with Virgil at Anfield after the game. It was nice to speak a little bit with him and the other Dutch guys.

‘It’s funny to see (the Dutch players doing so well around Europe). It is really nice to see. It says a lot about the players that we have in the Netherlands. We have a lot of really good players of a top level. It is really nice to see them doing well around Europe.’

Beukema, though he has not been capped yet by the Netherlands, is hopeful that he will soon be in that category – and winning the Coppa Italia will certainly help with that.

He adds: ‘I started playing football at six years old, I grew up with a ball at my feet. It was always my dream to become a footballer, like every other little kid. That I now play football in Serie A and played my first Champions League season as well, it is a dream come true.

‘We have a really, really special group at Bologna. I feel at home already, it is a really warm club and everyone is so involved from the material guys to the women who cook to the players – we are one team and one group. That is our strength, I think.

‘Since I arrived, it went like this with the club (points upwards). But now we want to keep going. It has been an amazing journey so far but we want to continue that.’