YB - Sion 1:2 A historic victory for the promoted team

SDA

21.7.2024 - 16:27

Thumbs up from Sion president Christian Constantin after his team's perfect start to the season
Thumbs up from Sion president Christian Constantin after his team's perfect start to the season
Keystone

FC Sion achieve something historic in their first match since returning to the Super League. For the first time since 1996, the Valais side won a league match at champions YB.

Keystone-SDA

Ilyas Chouaref scored from an acute angle after a counter-attack in the 66th minute to make it 2:1. The 23-year-old Frenchman, always dangerous with his dribbling and acceleration, gave FC Sion the perfect start to the new season after a one-year interlude in the Challenge League. For the first time since the top division was called the Super League, Sion won away against YB. Since their last success in the championship in Bern in August 1996, they had suffered 36 defeats in 42 league games.

FC Sion's success, which can be described as an exploit in view of the statistics, was not stolen. Didier Tholot's team played their game and always looked for a playful solution under pressure, even after the early 0:1 through Silvère Ganvoula's goal (16'). Dejan Djokic, who had arrived from Vaduz, equalized before the break with a follow-up shot after a less than ideal save by goalkeeper David von Ballmoos.

YB were dominant on Patrick Rahmen's debut on the bench and were initially much closer to a 2-1 lead after the break. Filip Ugrinic hit the post with a free kick in the 56th minute. But the Bernese were playing somewhat naively. They allowed themselves to be surprised twice by counter-attacks, the first time in the 60th minute when Jaouen Hadjam had to stop Sion's rapid attack at the cost of a second yellow card, and then six minutes later when Chouaref was unstoppable.

Even though the last home defeat in the championship against Sion was a long time ago, YB cannot claim to have been taken by surprise by the Valais side. It was only in February that the champions were defeated in the Cup quarter-finals away from home by Sion, whose personnel had hardly changed since then. After the 2-1 defeat, the favorites, for all their obvious efforts, came up with surprisingly few creative ideas to at least get a point.

Bern's defeat at the start of the season is not yet a disaster, but increases the pressure ahead of the upcoming tasks: YB play away against Servette on Wednesday and against St. Gallen on Sunday.

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Young Boys - Sion 1:2 (1:1)

28'366 spectators. - SR Dudic. - Goals: 16. Ganvoula (Monteiro) 1:0. 39. Djokic 1:1. 66. Chouaref (Berdayes) 1:2.

Young Boys: von Ballmoos; Blum (91. Rrudhani), Lauper, Husic, Hadjam; Monteiro (72. Males), Ugrinic, Chaiwa (72. Lakomy), Imeri (46. Itten); Elia, Ganvoula (68. Persson).

Sion: Fayulu; Lavanchy, Schmied (82. Sow), Diouf, Hefti; Berdayes, Kabacalman (68. Bua), Baltazar Costa, Bouchlarhem (87. Kronig); Djokic (68. Sorgic), Chouaref (82. Souza).

Remarks: 59th yellow card against Hadjam. Cautions: 23rd Hadjam, 31st Lavanchy, 32nd Husic, 34th Bouchlarhem, 92nd Ugrinic, 94th Fayulu, 96th Sorgic.