After the winter break, FC Lugano starts at the Swissporarena of Lucerne with the aim to give continuity to the work done during the Benidorm's retreat and to find again rhythm and certainties after almost a month without official matches. In front of them, an FC Luzern called to confirm their home solidity, in a challenge that on the eve promises to be intense and open since the first minutes.
The start is in favour of the Bianconeri, who in the first fifteen minutes take possession and crush Lucerne in their own half of the field, showing personality and good offensive plots. The first chance came in the fifth minute, when Dos Santos accelerated down the left, returned to the right and fired into the box, but found Loretz's response at the first post. As the minutes passed, however, the hosts were able to raise their centre of gravity and progressively enter the game, making themselves dangerous in the 18th minute with Spadanuda's right-footed shot from the edge of the box, which finished wide.
On the second real occasion, Luzern found the advantage: on 25 minutes Di Giusto's cross from the left, Saipi was unable to hold back and Villiger was the quickest to pounce on the ball, which rolled onto the line and into the net. The goal created some moments of confusion for Lugano, that struggled to find fluidity, but still managed to react with Dos Santos' shot from the limit at the 38th minute, that grazed the goal's cross. This is the first sign of the change of inertia: at the 41st minute, Behrens fights on a dirty ball and serves Dos Santos, who leans for Bislimi's arrival; the number 25 lets go a very powerful right-footed shot that sinks into the crossbar, restoring the balance. A few minutes later, in the 45th minute, it was Bislimi again who struck with another conclusion from the distance, this time precise in the corner, turning the game on its head. The final blow came at the end of the first half, when Dos Santos served Behrens deep into the box, who slotted a left-footed shot under the crossbar from a deflected position: three goals in five minutes that completely changed the face of the game before the interval.
BISLIMI HAT-TRICK, BEHRENS DOUBLES
The second time opened with a Lucern determined to come back in the game and a Lugano initially less lucid, but it was still the Bianconeri's quality that made the difference. At the 59th minute, a scheme on a free kick taken by Grgić frees Bislimi at the limit, who shoots keeping the ball low; a deflection of a defenseman makes the conclusion impenetrable and delivers to the HCL midfielder a deserved hattrick. Only two minutes pass and Lugano strikes again on a set kick: Cimignani's corner, Marques' spurt on the first post and Behrens' winning header in the middle of the area. The game remained alive and on the 71st minute, Luzern shortened the distances after a corner kick, with Freimann, the quickest to score after a first rebound.
Lugano immediately had the occasion to widen again, but Behrens had his shot rejected by the goalkeeper and, on the continuation of the action, Cimignani hit the crossbar with a cross shot from the distance. In the final minutes the hosts still tried to push without sparing themselves, but Croci-Torti's team managed the advantage with order, conceding little and controlling the rhythm until the triple whistle.
This was the end of a multifaceted game, that started with an uphill slope and that was overturned with personality and quality already during the first time. Three heavy points for the FC Lugano, that starts 2026 in the same way as it closed 2025, momentarily confirming its third place in the league standings at -1 of the FC St. Gallen 1879, that has a game to recover.
Now the glance moves to the next commitment, that will see the Bianconeri come back to Cornaredo in seven days for the challenge against Winterthur.
TABLE
FC LUZERN - FC LUGANO 2-5
Brack Super League - 20th day
17 January 2026 - Swissporarena
Scorers: 25′ Di Giusto, 41' and 45' Bislimi, 46' Behrens, 59' Bislimi, 61' Behrens, 71' Freimann.
FC LUZERN (4-2-3-1): Loretz; Ottiger (46' Winkler), Freimann, Bajrami, Fernandes (46' Ciganiks); Dorn, Owusu, Spadanuda (60' Ferreira); Di Giusto; Villiger (77' Vasovic), von Moos (71' Grbić).
Available: Knezevic, Karweina, Kabwit, Bock.
Coach: Mario Frick.
FC LUGANO (3-4-2-1): Saipi; Zanotti, Papadopoulos, Delcroix; Cimignani (77' Kelvin), Grgić, Bislimi (84' Kendouci), Marques (77' Alioski); Steffen (84' Mahou), Dos Santos (52' Belhadj); Behrens.
Available: von Ballmoos, Brault-Guillard, Bottani, Cassano.
Coach: Mattia Croci-Torti.
Referee: Urs Schnyder
Assistants: Claudio dos Santos and Benjamin Zürcher
4th official: Hajrim Qovanaj
VAR and AVAR: Michèle Schmölzer and Marijan Drmić
Admonished: Dos Santos (LUG), Papadopoulos (LUG).