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In the 22nd round, GC welcomes the residents of Letzigrund. They will continue to painfully miss one actor.
Legend:
The Grasshoppers are still missing due to health reasons
Petar Pusic (here in a duel with Fabian Rieder from Bern).
key stone
Both the Young Boys and GC celebrated victories last weekend, but the starting position of the two clubs is very different: while the Bernese achieved a pleasant prestige success thanks to the 3-1 in the chasing duel with FC Basel, GC maneuvered itself thanks to a 2-0 win at Lausanne-Sport in no man’s land in the table – not in danger of relegation, but also far behind the top trio.
The great absentee
It will not be the aim of the promoted team to imitate their city rivals Zurich in their first season and to line up home win after home win in the Letzigrund. But the Grasshoppers, without a win at home since 5 games, would do well to keep their usually not very numerous audience happy in the new year with a pleasant game. Petar Pusic is someone with whose help this negative series and the impending idleness could end.
But the GC captain is still missing from Zurich. Last December and January, the 23-year-old fell ill with Covid-19 and has been suffering from long-term effects of the disease ever since. According to the club, “regular medical examinations” and “specific measures” are necessary to get Pusic back on the pitch as quickly as possible.
With the confidence from the last win, this game comes at the right time.
Zurich have been waiting for a win against YB for almost 5 years. GC trainer Giorgio Contini, who in his coaching career in the Super League has won 21 duels against the Bernese only once (2014 with Vaduz), was nevertheless optimistic. At the press conference before the game, the 48-year-old said: “With the confidence of the last win, this game comes at the right time.”
It still seems unlikely that it should work out on Sunday with a full success against the reinvigorated Young Boys. For more than 30 league home games, the Grasshoppers have been waiting for a home appearance without conceding a goal and will also have to be careful against the strongest offensive in the league with top scorer Jordan Siebatcheu (14 goals). However, something speaks for Zurich: With 2 draws, they are the only team in the league that has not lost against the champions this season.