A miserable start, a turnaround that was no longer thought possible and in the end it was still a disaster. In the cup quarter-finals against a weakened Lugano, the team was eliminated in a penalty shootout. Of all people, the captain and veteran Fabian Frei slipped away and shot far past the goal, and later Dominik Schmid was also denied by the Ticino goalie Amir Saipi.
FCB’s only chance of a title in this season, which was so full of disappointments, seemed to have disappeared in the first quarter of an hour. The Basel defense was duped twice in almost identical ways and too easily. A long ball from the halfway line into the path of Zan Celar, the central defenders Adrian Barisic and Fabian Frei reacted far too slowly. The first time the Slovenian goal-getter took the lead ice-cold, the second time the Basel team was also a bit unlucky as referee Luca Cibelli deemed Barisic’s intervention against Celar as worthy of a penalty. He gave Marvin Hitz no chance from eleven meters.
Afterwards, Lugano, who could only muster 17 field players, controlled the game without any problems for a long time. Albian Ajeti, who returned from the start for the first time after two partial appearances, had no connection to his new teammates. However, after some time to get going, Thierno Barry, who came on for Ajeti, broke the spell. Some of the less than 18,000 fans had already left the stadium when the in-form Frenchman equalized with a double strike in the 81st and 83rd minutes. In the end it was a pattern with no value.
FCB scored more than one goal for the first time since last November and a 2-0 win against St. Gallen in their home St. Jakob-Park. Nevertheless, it is Lugano that is in the cup semi-finals for the third time in a row after winning in 2022 and the final last year.
Telegram:
Basel – Lugano 2:2 (2:2, 0:2) nV; Lugano 4:3 winner in the penalty shootout
17’975 Zuschauer. – MR Cibelli. – Tore: 6. Celar 0:1. 15. Celar (Foulpenalty) 0:2. 81. Barry 1:2. 83. Barry 2:2. – Penaltyschiessen: Veiga 1:0, Valenzuela 1:1; Frei -, Vladi 1:2; Jovanovic 2:2, Sabbatini 2:3; Barry 3:3, Mahou 3:4; Schmid -.
Basel: Hitz; Vouilloz, Barisic, Frei, Schmid; Dragons (61. Jovanovic), Avdullahu; Kacuri (46. Renato Veiga), Kade (74. Beney); Sigger (46. Malone); Shot (46. Barry).
Lugano: Saipi; Hajrizi, Mai (46. El Wafi), Hajdari, Valenzuela; Macek (72. Bislimi), Sabbatini, Mahmoud (114. Przybylko); Cimignani (106. Espinoza), Bottani (61. Mahou); Cellar (72. Vladi).
Observation: Warning: 14. Barisic. 25. Hajdari. 27. Schmid. 28. Continue. 47. Mahmoud. 54. Hajriz. 70. Sabbath. 92. Vouilloz. 113. Abdullah. 116. Beney.
2024-02-28 23:55:49
#Basel #fails #penalty #shootout #Lugano
