The hosts’ elimination had already been confirmed, but they had the incentive of trying to impress interim head coach Dan Roman, who took charge for the first time since Zarko Lazetic’s sacking on Tuesday.
However, they struggled early on in the sparsely-populated TSC Arena in Backa Topola, Serbia, where Maccabi are playing their European home games this season, and they were saved by VAR when Bologna’s top goalscorer Riccardo Orsolini saw a 19th-minute header ruled out for offside.
Maccabi had scored just twice in their first seven league phase matches, and Noam Ben Harush missed a golden chance to improve that tally on the half-hour mark, as the wing-back dragged his effort wide.
The visitors took a deserved lead five minutes later, though, when Ofek Melika failed to hold Nikola Moro’s shot and Jonathan Rowe pounced to score for the second successive Europa League game.
No team had attempted more shots pre-round than Bologna (144), and the Rossoblu continued that theme here with 15 first-half efforts, as Melika thwarted Santiago Castro twice and Lewis Ferguson once shortly before the interval.
They survived a scare two minutes before the break, though, when Kervin Andrade dinked an effort just past the post.
Bologna knew a heavy win would increase their chances of finishing in the top eight, and they extended their advantage within two minutes of the restart, as Orsolini cut inside and fired low past Melika for his 11th goal across all competitions this term.
A goal for Panathinaikos against AS Roma pushed them into the top eight on goals for, and the game opened up, as the Rossoblu attempted to consolidate their position and Maccabi looked to avoid a fourth successive defeat across all competitions.
Nadir Zortea thought he had won a late penalty for Bologna when he was brought down by Ilay Ben Simon, but the decision was overturned following a VAR review. It would not have mattered, though, as an equaliser for Roma pushed the Rossoblu back out of the top eight.
Tomasso Pobega then sealed victory with a neat finish in stoppage time as Bologna ended a three-game winless run to end the league phase 10th, while Maccabi finish bottom of the UEL after failing to taste victory in a European group stage/league phase for the first time since the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna)
