FC Lugano’s final fixture of the regular season is scheduled for Saturday 11 April at 6.00 pm at the Letzigrund, where they face FC Zürich. The race for the Championship Group and the Relegation Group has already been decided, but the away trip to face the Blue and Whites still carries significant weight for Mattia Croci-Torti’s side, who are looking to finish this phase of the season on a high note before entering the decisive run of five head-to-head matches against teams battling for the top spots in the table.
FC Zürich, currently tenth, already know their campaign will continue in the Relegation Group. Precisely for this reason, however, the side led by Dennis Hediger will be looking to bid farewell to the regular season with a performance full of character in front of their home crowd, not least to maintain momentum for a team which, despite suffering five defeats in their last six matches, has shown it can beat top-tier opponents, as confirmed by their 2-1 home win against Thun at the end of March.
Caution is therefore required, not least because the stage of the season demands that Lugano approach every detail with clear-headedness. The bianconeri go into the match on the back of a valuable victory against the league leaders in their last outing at Cornaredo, preceded by two draws secured on difficult away pitches in Bern and St. Gallen. Over the last three matchdays, regardless of the results, the team has shown signs of solidity and competitiveness that now need to be confirmed in Zurich as well.
There is also a statistic to bear in mind as the match approaches: in the two previous encounters this season, Lugano have always come out on top, winning both matches 1-0. A closely contested head-to-head record, which confirms that Saturday’s clash will also require intensity, patience and the ability to read the game well.
CROCI-TORTI: ‘WE’LL NEED DETERMINATION AND AGGRESSIVENESS TO WIN’
At the press conference, Mattia Croci-Torti immediately highlighted the opposition’s strengths, urging the team not to be misled by the league table: ‘I expect a combative Zurich side. They’re playing at home, coming off a defeat, and they’re a team that, given their environment and the nature of their players, will bring pride, hard work and a fighting spirit.” A clear picture, to which the bianconero coach also added the key that, in his view, will be needed to leave the Letzigrund with a positive result: “To win tomorrow, in addition to technical quality, we must also bring the fighting spirit, that ruthlessness we saw last week.”
And that is precisely where Lugano wants to pick up from. The performance against Thun offered encouraging signs, particularly in terms of attitude, as Croci-Torti himself emphasised: “What I liked was the team’s attitude. The body language from all the players was positive right up to the last second.” This is no minor detail, because at this stage of the season, mental resilience risks making just as much of a difference as technical quality.
Inevitably, the focus extends beyond Saturday’s match. With the regular season drawing to a close, Lugano knows it has entered the most crucial stretch of the championship, the one in which European objectives and rankings will be decided. “We know full well what lies ahead in the final six matches,” explained Croci-Torti. “We want to reach this stage better prepared than last year. The aim is to secure a European spot without waiting too long into the season.”
In the coach’s words, however, there is also a desire to take a balanced view of the progress made so far. Despite the regret of not having managed to keep pace with the very top teams, the overall record remains significant: “Since I’ve been in Lugano, this is the season in which we’ve picked up the most points. There are those who have done better than us, Thun, and we accept that, but I cannot look back on this season in a negative light.” Hence the determination to keep pushing in the final round of the regular season, aiming to add more valuable points before the start of the Championship Group.
STEFFEN: “WE NEED TO BE PRACTICAL AND CAPITALISE ON OUR CHANCES”
Alongside Croci-Torti’s comments, Renato Steffen also offered a clear-headed assessment of the bianconeri’s current situation, describing the season as “a bit of a rollercoaster” and emphasising that the team must learn valuable lessons from these ups and downs for the final stretch. “A less impressive spell is to be expected, but it shouldn’t cost us so many points,” observed the Swiss winger, highlighting the need to approach the final stretch of the league campaign with greater consistency and conviction.
Looking more closely at the match at Letzigrund, the bianconero’s number 11 then drew attention to the importance of adapting to the context of the game, including the pitch conditions, without, however, compromising their identity. “We want to play clean, quality football,” he explained, adding, however, that in matches of this kind, the ability to read the game is also crucial. For this reason, Steffen emphasised one aspect in particular: clinical finishing. “We’ll need to be good at closing out the game when we get the chance,” he said, highlighting how, against Zurich-based teams this year, Lugano have often created the conditions to take control of the match without always managing to capitalise on them fully.
Steffen’s reflections also include a broader assessment of the standard of the Brack Super League, which he still describes as “an attractive league” capable of producing “good football”, yet at the same time always very demanding in terms of consistency. All the more reason, therefore, to approach the final matchday of the regular season with maturity, clarity and attention to detail.
Lugano thus approaches the final matchday of the regular season with the aim of building on the positive signs that have emerged in recent weeks and of ending this phase of the championship with a positive result. In Zurich, the Bianconeri are playing for three crucial points, vital for maintaining their momentum heading into the decisive phase of the season.
