Thierno Barry was the one who scored twice for Basel. The 21-year-old Frenchman was dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons in the last game. In his comeback, he scored a brace, as he did in the first game of the season, underlining his value to coach Fabio Celestini’s team. New signing Bénie Traoré also made a good impression, scoring the opening goal in the Letzigrund and also providing an assist. It was a small relief for Basel, who started the season with two defeats, while GC is still winless after three rounds.
In Lugano, an unfortunate move by Joël Mall decided the game. The Servette goalie, who had been celebrated as a hero in the cup final against Lugano two months earlier, looked bad in the 1:2. Bradley Mazikou’s back pass rolled through his legs into his own net. Lugano thus turned the game around, in which the home team had fallen behind in the 61st minute thanks to Dereck Kutesa’s third goal of the season. Substitute Hadj Mahmoud equalized with a header, and substitute Renato Steffen provided the impressive final goal. For Lugano, it was the third win in three games, for Servette the first point lost in four games.
Newly promoted Sion suffered its first setback after two victories in the opening match. The Valais team lost 1-0 in Lucerne. The only goal of the match came shortly after the start of the second half. Nicky Beloko converted a pass from captain Pius Dorn, who had won the ball on the edge of the penalty area. The guests then pushed for an equalizer, but Lucerne held up under the pressure and celebrated its first win of the season.
Ranking: 1. Lugano 3/9 (7:3). 2. Servette 4/9 (9:7). 3. Zurich 2/6 (6:2). 4. Sion 3/6 (6:2). 5. Lucerne 3/4 (4:4). 6. St. Gallen 2/3 (4:1). 7. Winterthur 2/3 (3:4). 8. Lausanne-Sport 2/3 (3:6). 9. Basel 3/3 (6:5). 10. Grasshoppers 3/1 (3:7). 11. Yverdon 2/0 (2:5). 12. Young Boys 3/0 (2:9).
