YB struggles with a word he no longer knows

In fact they banned the term from the vocabulary in Bern many years ago. But late on Tuesday night, after a 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa in the Champions League, a reporter quickly introduced him. That may sound strange, he said, but now there is this “underground duel” in the Super League, this weekend, against Winterthur.

During the Champions League week, stars everywhere in Wankdorf, as well as a guest from the Premier League, the richest league in the world. And at the weekend, as strange as it could be: a duel in the basement, on the Schützenwiese, against FC Winterthur. There are two planets in the YB universe in the 2024/25 season, and so far they seem to be traveled by two completely different journeys.

In the competition, the champions are still waiting to win after six games, as the only team in the league. The Bernese have only got three points and are in last place. They have never had such a bad start to a Super League season.

Just ahead of the Young Boys is Winterthur, the outsider who won only four points, as the ninth place Grasshoppers. And now Winterthur and GC are YB’s next opponents in the tournament.

So the Young Boys are facing not just one, but two duels in the basement. These will be game-changing games for them, games they have to win, they have no other choice. The season is still young. But the gap to the leader Lugano is already ten points.

The Bern mortgage should no longer be larger

Paying off such a mortgage will be a complex task in every way. It shouldn’t be more. Especially since the Champions League brings fame, honor and money, but in the new format it will also bring eight more games instead of the previous six, which will put a lot of pressure on YB until January.

When it came to the next weekend on Tuesday night, the duel in the basement against Winterthur, YB coach Patrick Frame missed only a few sentences. But they looked deep.

“Full focus” on the Winterthur game was promised. He said that everyone should feel that “we really want to win the game”. At first that sounded like empty words that football coaches like to say. But they showed what the Bernese have sometimes been missing on the Swiss football pitches this season. It was the basics: focus. The will to win.

Foreign countries, on the other hand, have been a strength for the Young Boys this season. When they beat Galatasaray Istanbul in the Champions League playoffs, they did so in impressive style. When the Bernese tour returned to the places of Switzerland, there was little in common with the international matches: 1-1 against Lausanne, then, in the cup, a hard 4-2 win in Vevey, which ‘ to surrender a two-goal lead.

On Tuesday against Aston Villa, YB started the match strongly. He was full of will, full of confidence, and full of focus. But it only took one mistake for their entire self-image to fall apart. After a corner, the Bernese team did not even protect Youri Tielemans – 0-1.

Sensitive and lack of leaders

A few minutes later, the YB defender came up with the idea of ​​playing a back pass in his own penalty area and in great distress – 0:2. The head of defense Mohamed Ali Camara made the mistake. The scene showed one of Bern’s problems: there is a lack of key players. And those who have this statute have such bad accidents.

After the match against Aston Villa, the Bernese praised themselves for their strong start, but in the end there was still a different opinion: that the Young Boys have also become more fragile in international business national. A game they’re allowed to lose, lose in a way they shouldn’t be allowed to lose.

And now Winterthur. For Patrick Frame the game is especially meaningful. In the previous season he was still the head of Schützenwiese and proposed himself for the most prestigious coaching position in the country, the one in Bern.

In Winterthur, the frame was greeted with applause. Now he returns as coach of YB, whose team has heard whistles this season. He meets Ognjen Zaric, his successor, who had previously been his assistant in Winterthur. Frame said on Friday that it was a “special moment” for him, this return, also because he was given permission to move to Bern in Winterthur.

But there is no place for sentimental feelings on Sunday. Frame then needs the victory, and for that he needs YB from the planet to qualify for the Champions League. He thinks there is only one YB. And that this YB in Switzerland was not as bad as the score would suggest. He says you have to look at the individual games and look at the “big picture”. But he also knows that only one thing counts in the end: the record.