A 1:1 that doesn't really help FC St. Gallen

Chadrac Akolo (left) ends St. Gallen's goal drought, but his goal is not enough for the win they needed

Keystone

St. Gallen needed a win in the battle to reach the Super League championship round in Lucerne, but a 1-1 draw was the result: Chadrac Akolo's quick equalizer was not enough for St. Gallen.

Keystone-SDA

03.04.2025, 22:34•03.04.2025, 22:37

Less than two minutes had been played when Luzern, who again fielded six home-grown players in the starting eleven, took the lead. Lars Villiger was in the right place in the penalty area and scored after 117 seconds. St. Gallen, who had to make do without suspended captain Lukas Görtler, dealt with the early blow surprisingly well. Just seven minutes later, Chadrac Akolo equalized with his first goal in 2025, ending St. Gallen's scoring drought.

St. Gallen, who had slipped to 8th place in the table, had previously gone 213 minutes without scoring. Winter signing Jean-Pierre Nsame has not been a factor since his double against FC Zurich in mid-February. On Thursday, the three-time Super League top scorer, who is one goal, his 112th, away from the sole league record, again cut an unfortunate figure. The Cameroonian was substituted in the 67th minute and limped off the pitch seven minutes later with a muscle injury.

This was one of the reasons why the score remained 1:1, which hardly helped FC St. Gallen.

Telegram and standings:

Lucerne - St. Gallen 1:1 (1:1)

11'790 spectators. - SR Fähndrich. - Goals: 2 Villiger 1:0. 9 Akolo 1:1.

Luzern: Loretz; Bung H. Freimann, Knezevic, Bung M. Freimann (90. Löfgren); Dorn, Stankovic, Beloko, Fernandes (46. Ciganiks); Spadanuda (60. Rrudhani), Villiger, Klidje (61. Grbic).

St. Gallen: Zigi; Ambrosius, Stanic, Vallci; Vandermersch, Quintillà (67. Toma), Daschner, Okoroji; Witzig (83. Faber), Geubbels (67. Nsame; 74. Cisse), Akolo (67. Csoboth).

Remarks: Cautions: 3rd Zigi, 31st Knezevic, 34th Vasic, 94th Daschner.

Other result from Thursday: Basel - Grasshoppers 2:1 (2:0).

Ranking: 1. Basel 30/52 (61:32). 2. Servette 30/51 (49:40). 3. Young Boys 30/49 (46:35). 4. Lucerne 30/48 (54:46). 5. Lugano 30/48 (47:42). 6. Zurich 30/46 (43:42). 7. Lausanne-Sport 30/41 (48:43). 8. St. Gallen 30/40 (43:42). 9. Sion 30/35 (40:47). 10. Yverdon 30/32 (31:49). 11. Grasshoppers 30/27 (30:43). 12. Winterthur 30/23 (30:61).