The third aluminum goal that evening in St. Gallen brought luck to FC Basel. Riccardo Calafiori’s shot on the crossbar in the 5th minute of extra time landed in front of Zeki Amdouni’s feet, who shot in to make it 2-1 for FCB. St. Gallen tried everything again as a result, but was no longer able to react. So the Basel team could be happy about entering the cup semi-finals.
The guests proved once again that the kybunpark is good terrain for them. Basel has now won seven of the last eleven competitive games in St. Gallen. For the eastern Swiss it was the sixth defeat in the seventh cup duel with the Rheinknie team.
Efficient St. Gallen with an ideal start
Basel started the game better, but played offensively too little for a long time. Quite different the St. Gallen. The hosts took the lead with the first dangerous move: Jordi Quintilla completely overturned the Basel defense with a perfect pass to Christian Witzig. Jérémy Guillemenot pushed his pass to the middle under FCB goalkeeper Marwin Hitz to make it 1-0.
After missed opportunities: Zeqiri with redemption
After the opening goal, FCSG limited themselves to the defensive and let the Baslers take the reins. However, the guests were not able to create real scoring chances for a long time. It wasn’t until the 38th minute that they came close to scoring: Andi Zeqiri rose from a corner to head the ball, but it hit the post.
After the break, things continued in the same style. Basel played, St. Gallen acted cautiously. FCB should have made the deserved equalizer in the 52nd minute. Again after a corner kick, Michael Lang failed twice at the strong parrying Lukas Watkowiak. Zeqiri finally made up for what he had missed in the 58th minute. Ideally launched by the strong Fabian Frei, the striker defeated Watkowiak, who had no chance this time, to make it 1-1.
As a result, Basel’s Amdouni came closest to the lucky punch. However, his conclusion in the 81st minute from 16 meters hit the left post. St. Gallen meanwhile sniffed the decision with two chances in the 88th minute, but could no longer prevent the extra time. There Amdouni still advanced to the match winner.