FC Lugano U-21’s October campaign has gone down in the history books with a heavy defeat suffered at Heerenschürli, home of their young neighbours from Zurich. The 6–1 scoreline at the final whistle speaks volumes about the obvious difficulties faced by the Ticino side from the moment they stepped onto the pitch.
As on previous competitive occasions, manager Andrea Vitali has had to make the best of a difficult situation, given that the squad’s key absentees include, in particular, Alessio Chiesa, Luca Molino, Ahmadou Ndiaye, Jason Parente, Nicolò Puddu and Ian Tiraboschi. By contrast, compared to the home derby against Bellinzona, the bianconeri manager made changes to two-thirds of his attacking line-up, bringing in Claudio Cassano and Rafael Frizzi from the start in place of Andrea Riva and Bryan Zurmühle, alongside the team’s top scorer, Christian Raffa.
The match, which kicked off as the sunset was rapidly fading from the Zurich sky, saw the Ticino side struggle to make an impact against their opponents, losing several one-on-one duels. Thus, after an early warning – a diagonal header from Daniele Trivellin straight into the hands of Diego Mina in the fourth minute – the same centre-forward struck again from a short parry by the visiting goalkeeper less than two minutes later, giving his side an immediate lead; they were more responsive in every area of the pitch. As time went on, the team from the lower Ticino region tried to find the bite that had been missing at the start of the match. However, Leon Rüeger’s attempt after a quarter of an hour did not trouble Lorenz Coninx and, following a deflection, resulted in a corner from which nothing dangerous emerged.
Following another lapse in concentration, in the 31st minute, the blue-and-whites doubled their lead. A long ball caught the defensive line out of position. The home side couldn’t have asked for more, and Trivellin slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 2–0. Predictable play and a lack of ruthlessness were evident in the very next move, which saw Burim Kukeli’s side even extend their lead to 3–0. Coninx cleared the ball down the touchline; Sajawal Mahar won a challenge against Aaron Davis, broke clear on his own towards the edge of the box and, with a superb right-footed finish into the far corner, beat Mina. At half-time, the score spoke for itself, with the Zurich U-21s deservedly in the lead.
On returning from the changing rooms, an inviting free-kick from the three-quarter line taken by Cassano found João Carbone’s left foot; his attempt, with much of the goal at his disposal, sailed over the crossbar. The missed target was a source of regret, but it did not dampen Lugano’s determination to regain control of the match. As a result, in the 49th minute, they broke the deadlock thanks to Raffa who, played in by Cassano following a precise through ball from Gjan Ajdin, rounded the Swiss goalkeeper and reignited the visitors’ hopes of a comeback. However, those hopes were dashed when Emrah Isić, slipping all too easily between the black-and-white lines, played the ball to Till Frey on his right to restore the three-goal lead.
A foul by Milad Amirzade on the scorer of Zurich’s third goal left referee Mujo Dedukić with no choice but to award a penalty. Trivellin stepped up to take the spot-kick, sending Mina the wrong way; not only did he score his team’s fifth goal, but he also took the match ball home at the final whistle thanks to his personal ‘hat-trick’. The result of the match, which had long since been decided, saw a further legitimate penalty awarded to the home side in stoppage time (a foul by Nicola Gamba on Mahar, who converted the spot-kick), thus altering the final scoreline. The heavy defeat suffered by the Lugano U-21s during the match highlights just how difficult and challenging the away trip to the banks of the Limmat proved to be.
In the league table, as a logical consequence, they remain on 13 points. The next opportunity to add to their tally will be on Saturday 7 November 2026. Kicking off at 5.30 pm, in front of their home crowd at the Al Maglio Sports Centre in Canobbio, they will face another team from Zurich, the newly promoted Young Fellows Juventus, who are also coming off the back of a defeat (0–2 at home against Brühl from St Gallen).
Whilst we wait to resume our weekly training sessions, we couldn’t miss out on the usual closing remarks, as always provided by Andrea Vitali: ‘Our opponents started the match very well. We, on the other hand, were very lacklustre and the match immediately went off the rails. Today, the lads didn’t understand how to approach the challenge. It’s a shame, because during the week’s training sessions I tried to be very clear with them about the importance of this match. However, it happens that they didn’t interpret it in the best possible way. The significant absences have nothing to do with it; this team has been working together for some time now, and this setback is down to a completely wrong approach on our part and the skill of our opponents.”
MATCH REPORT
Hoval Promotion League 2026–2027, Matchday 14
Heerenschürli, Zürich
FC ZÜRICH U-21 – FC LUGANO U-21 6–1 (3–0)
GOALS: 6’ Trivellin 1–0, 31’ Trivellin 2–0, 35’ Mahar 3–0, 49’ Raffa 3–1, 57’ Frey 4–1, 69’ Trivellin 5–1 (penalty), 90’ +4’ Mahar 6–1 (penalty).
FC ZÜRICH U-21 (4-1-2-1-2): Coninx; Lebrino, Kovacević (55' Fernandes), Kamoko, Rošković (71' Spühler); Isić; Mahar, Kadriaj (71’ Wyss); Frey; Trivellin (84’ Xhota), Leber (55’ Sulejmani).
Substitutes: Munroe, Mustafa.
Manager: Burim Kukeli.
FC LUGANO U-21 (3-4-2-1): Mina; Gamba, Krueziu (70’ Alsheikh), João Carbone; Davis (70' Gervasini), Amirzade (81' Migliorati), Ajdin, Rüeger; Raffa, Cassano (70' Riva); Frizzi (70' Zurmühle).
Substitutes: Gerosa, Radić.
Manager: Andrea Vitali.
REFEREE: Mujo Dedukić.
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Emilie Aubry and Loris Argese.
BOOKINGS: 55' Davis, 67' Kadriaj.