Coach Mario Frick had formulated the extraordinary starting position before the game as follows: “We are heading to the bottom as leaders, but we are still outsiders.” With recent good results, the FCL deserved to compete as league leaders against champions YB. Despite the consciously low profile of being outsiders, the central Swiss naturally wanted to stand up to the still top-class Bernese as best they could.
The game
In the first half, the game was mostly even, with slight advantages for the “favorite” YB. After just ten minutes, the former Lucerne Males called on goalkeeper Loretz, who skillfully cleared the ball for a corner. Another 10 minutes later, Beloko was unfortunately injured and had to be replaced by Winkler shortly afterwards. When it was already approaching the break, Lucerne were lucky when Loretz missed a ball from Monteiro at the left post and the ball rolled across in front of the goal, but could not be used by anyone from Bern. Shortly before the half-time whistle, things got really heated when Ugrinic and Jaquez clashed and a veritable pack formed. Both picked up yellow and referee Piccolo had already warned seven players after a rather uneventful and goalless half.
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Second half
The second half started with a bang! Just seconds after the restart, Lucerne’s defense was not ready for a long ball from YB goalie Ballmos and Moteiro was able to take the lead with a nice individual move. And it got even worse: somehow, in just a few minutes, all the ballast from the lousy first nine championship rounds seemed to fall off YB’s shoulders. At first Itten only hit the crossbar with his head, but in the 50th minute he quickly completed an attack with his old conviction and increased the score to 2-0. Mario Frick reacted to the slight signs of disintegration with a triple substitution, bringing on Kadak, Ottiger and Villiger for Rrudhani, Klidje and Owusu. It was possible to calm the game down a bit, but it was obvious that YB wanted to initiate the turnaround today with interim coach Magnin.
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From the 60th minute onwards, there was a noticeable increase in performance from the FC Luzern team, which was immediately reflected in good opportunities. First it was Winkler with a header, then Grbic with a convincing finish and shortly afterwards Ottiger tried it with a strong long-range shot. The next goal became apparent and didn’t take long to arrive. After a corner from Kadak, Jaquez rose unchallenged and had no trouble sinking the ball into the YB box. In the final phase, Villiger again had two 100% header chances and Ciganiks also failed again by the narrowest of margins in stoppage time. FC Luzern had to leave the three points behind in Bern due to five overslept minutes and poor evaluation of chances.
Scene of the game
The scene in a negative sense was the absolutely inadequate start to the second half, which deprived the Lucerne team of their deserved wages.
Man of the match
Luca Jaquez brought hope back with his second professional goal in just a few weeks.
Pascal Loretz, goalkeeper / Grade: 4.5 / Had one or two more insecurities than usual. It was his turn when the second goal was conceded. In the first half with some brilliant saves.
Luca Jaquez, defender / Grade: 5.5 / Good performance from the young central defender. Scored his 2nd professional goal and did a solid job.
Kevin Spadanuda, midfielder / Short appearance not evaluable / Came on for Winkler in the 76th minute.
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