- FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy are promoted to the Super League after beating Sion 4-2 at home in the Barrage second leg.
- The Vaudois clearly decided the relegation with the overall score of 6:2.
- For Sion it is the first relegation to the second highest league since 2006.
Now it’s official: FC Sion will only be second-class from the coming season. The proud Valais club around President Christian Constantin could no longer turn things around in the barrage against Stade Lausanne-Ouchy. Instead, Sion said goodbye to the biggest Swiss football stage, at least temporarily, with a 4-2 defeat.
A dream solo as the final blow to the neck
The Super League representative could still hope for relegation until almost 10 minutes before the end. Teddy Okou eliminated the last doubts about the deserved winner of the barrage with the 3:2 in the 81st minute. The nimble outside runner made Baltazar, Musa Araz and Nathanaël Saintini look like extras on the right side before he outwitted Sion goalkeeper Kevin Fickentscher and put the ball in the goal.
With the 2:3, the Sittener stopped their resistance completely and even made it possible for the euphoric underdogs to make it 4:2 through Liridon Mulaj (89th). Shortly thereafter, referee Urs Schnyder blew the whistle on the well-filled Pontaise.
Lausanne-Ouchy always behind the wheel
Before the break, Sion was able to level things out, at least on the scoreboard, thanks to great efficiency. Coach Paolo Tramezzani’s team fell behind twice in the 6th and 34th minutes. Luca Zuffi (23rd) and Anto Grgic with a penalty kick (39th) equalized for Sion.
While the morale of the Valais seemed to be right, they were once again unable to convince in terms of play. As in the first leg last Saturday (0:2), it was the people of Lausanne who were able to create significantly more and better chances to score.
Nevertheless, after just over an hour, Sion had the golden opportunity to take the lead for the first time. After a blunder by SLO defender Lucas Pos, Gaëtan Karlen suddenly appeared alone in front of Dany Da Silva. However, the Sion striker couldn’t get the ball past the brilliantly saved Lausanne-Ouchy goalkeeper.
3 climbers from Romandy
In addition to Challenge League champion Yverdon-Sport and runner-up Lausanne-Sport, Lausanne-Ouchy is the third promoted team from the canton of Vaud – that’s a quarter of all participants in the Super League, which has been expanded to 12 teams.
Sion, on the other hand, has to return to second division for the first time in 17 years. There is still a small back door for the Valais: President Constantin had announced that he would sue for alleged deception by Yverdon in the licensing of the Swiss Football League. So far, however, the chances of success are considered to be low.
