St. Gallen missed out on a 0-0 draw at home to Trabzonspor in the first leg of the Conference League play-off. The eastern Swiss side were outplayed for a long time, but came closer to the lucky punch in the end.
22.08.2024, 23:11
22.08.2024, 23:18
SDA
A week after FCSG's turbulent away win in Poland with four VAR interventions, three sending-offs and a late penalty goal during 20 minutes of stoppage time, things were not quite as spectacular in the sold-out St. Gallen Arena.
It was not until the very end that the 16,291 spectators were filled with emotion. Willem Geubbels scored the would-be St. Gallen winner in the 87th minute after a corner kick. However, following a video review, the referee disallowed the goal, much to the displeasure of the home fans, on the grounds that the Frenchman was leaning on his opponent when he headed the ball.
Zigi's brilliant saves and the crossbar
Admittedly, the 1:0 victory would have been very flattering for the team from eastern Switzerland. Although Enrico Maassen's team defended passionately, they were rarely able to set the tone in attack. In stoppage time, substitute Kevin Csoboth once again missed the lucky punch. The Hungarian's shot just missed the goal. St. Gallen were thus without a goal for the first time in this European Cup campaign and since their unsuccessful start to the championship (0:1 in Winterthur).
The fact that Trabzonspor also failed to score (for the fourth game in a row!) was mainly down to Lawrence Ati Zigi. The favored Turks created numerous top chances, but the St. Gallen goalkeeper thwarted them all.
Edin Visca appeared alone in front of Zigi after just seven minutes following a careless loss of possession by Bastien Toma, but he was able to make a save. Just a minute later, Zigi steered a lob from Enis Bardhi onto the crossbar. In first-half stoppage time, the Ghanaian made another bravura save to thwart another double chance for the visitors.
It still needs a "miracle from Moscow"
St. Gallen would have done well to go one better against the Turkish cup winners at home - at least that's what a glance at the history books tells us: in 18 European Cup matches played by Swiss clubs in Turkey, only FC Basel (2003 at Malatyaspor) and Lugano last year against Besiktas Istanbul have managed a win.
But football fans from eastern Switzerland prefer to remember 2013. Back then, FCSG traveled to the play-off second leg in Moscow with little credit after a 1-1 draw at home, and pulled off the coup with a spectacular 4-2 win over Spartak to qualify for the Europa League group stage.
Telegram:
St. Gallen - Trabzonspor 0:0
16,291 spectators (sold out). - SR Nogueira (POR).
St. Gallen: Ati Zigi; Faber, Ambrosius, Vallci, Okoroji; Görtler, Quintillà (34. Stevanovic), Witzig (72. Ruiz); Toma (72. Csoboth); Geubbels, Akolo (73. Cissé).
Remarks: St. Gallen without Schmidt (injured). 87th goal by Geubbels disallowed by VAR for foul play.
