- Lugano consolidated third place in the Super League thanks to its fourth win in a row.
- The goals in the deserved 2-0 win in Cornaredo against Yverdon were scored by Hadj Mahmoud (37th) and Milton Valenzuela (58th).
- In the earlier Saturday games there was a 1-1 draw at GC vs. FC St. Gallen and at Basel vs. Winterthur.
If Lugano competes with Yverdon, there can only be one logical winner this season: the Ticino team. This was also the case in the third meeting in the Super League 2023/24. However, the team of coach Mattia Croci-Torti had to write back compared to the two previous duels – a 6:1 and 5:0. This time the success in the Cornaredo was somewhat meager with a 2-0.
This is also due to Vaud keeper Paul Bernardoni, who only joined at the beginning of the year. The Frenchman was a busy man from the start, but repeatedly thwarted opportunities. But since the people in front of him acted far too harmlessly and uninspired over the full 90 minutes, a solid Bernardoni ultimately found himself in a losing battle with the promoted team.
It hit him for the first time in the 37th minute. After a Yverdon corner, we moved quickly to the other half of the pitch. Uran Bislimi found Hadj Mahmoud after a remarkable shift of play on the left. He asserted himself with a fine individual action against Boris Cespedes and then found the gap from around 20 meters. His shot into the bottom corner was precisely placed.
Again Valenzuela and again and again Steffen
As soon as the second half kicked off, the Luganesi were able to shift down a gear – the distribution of strength was too one-sided and they, as the only active team, had too much control of the game. A quick switch in the 58th minute finally cleared up the last doubts on the scoreboard.
Milton Valenzuela used a long ball from Renato Steffen on the left goal post to make it 2-0. It was only his second goal of the season – the Argentine had not scored since August 13th and a goal against Yverdon (!). Meanwhile, national player Steffen had his 11th assist noted – this was just on his 200th anniversary appearance in the Super League.
Legend:
Milton Valenzuela
He last scored against Yverdon and after a long dry spell he now scored again against the same opponent.
Keystone/Ti Press/Samuel Golay
With the 4th success in a row, Lugano consolidated 3rd place in the table. Meanwhile, a shockingly inactive Yverdon has already suffered its 4th defeat from the last 5 games and is now in 8th position, 8 points behind the top 6 in the no man’s land of the table.
This is how it continues
There is an interruption in the championship due to appearances with the national teams – Switzerland is testing against Denmark (March 23) and Ireland (March 26). Lugano travels to bottom team Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy for the fifth-to-last round before the split on March 30th. Yverdon welcomes the leaders YB on Easter Monday.