Everything open between GC and Aarau

It has been eleven years since FC Aarau were relegated to the Challenge League. Since then, the club has had several chances to be promoted - and has failed time and again.

Now they have another chance to return to Switzerland's top division against GC. The 0-0 draw from the first leg, in which Aarau showed more commitment than the Grasshoppers, promises an exciting starting position ahead of the second leg.

Opportunities not exploited as desired

"It was important for us to put on a good face here and get a good result," said Linus Obexer after the game. The defender went on to say to Tele M1: "We all believe in it. There was an extremely fine line between euphoria and disappointment. Now we have meat on the bone again." Captain Olivier Jäckle was also satisfied. The same, if not an even better performance was needed in the second leg on Thursday. "The only negative was our exploitation of chances."

Even if Jäckle was actually only talking about the scoring chances in this one game: missed chances have already been Aarau's undoing several times in the promotion battle. For example, in the 2019 barrage against Neuchâtel Xamax, in which Aarau led 4-0 after the first leg and ultimately lost on penalties.

Or on the last matchday of 2022, when Aarau went into the race for promotion as leaders but still missed out on the promotion play-offs after losing to Vaduz. Or in the barrage against Grasshoppers last season, in which the Zurich side were already 4-0 up after the first leg. This year too - with the draw against Yverdon on the final matchday and the resulting missed promotion - FCA failed to take its chance.

"Nothing to lose"

Aarau always seem to fail when everything is in their favor. So perhaps it is precisely their advantage that practically nothing was in their favor before the barrage against GC. There are the memories of last year's barrage, for example. But also a number of other omens. The barrage was brought forward by two days. The Grasshoppers rested their players in the last championship match, while Aarau had to cope with a heavy defeat and little recovery time.

Despite this, the first leg at the Brügglifeld ended 0-0 and everything is wide open for the second leg, but Peter Zeidler's Super League team is under much greater pressure. Even though the coach said on Monday evening: "I don't think we have anything to lose."

However, the Grasshoppers have only been relegated twice in the club's history - the last time in 2019. Things have not been going well for the record champions since their promotion two years later. GC has had to go to the barrage for the past three years. In 2024, the club narrowly escaped against FC Thun. "Of course we want to play in the Super League next year," said Zeidler, saying that's where GC belongs. After the draw, however, it was clear that the team would have to play better in many areas to achieve this.