Armin Gigovic has done Young Boys a disservice with two red cards in the last two games. Coach Gerardo Seoane and teammate Sandro Lauper offer words of encouragement after the game in Thessaloniki.
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- Young Boys lose their Europa League game away to PAOK 4-0 and remain on six points after four games.
- As against FC Basel on Sunday, Armin Gigovic was sent off in Greece - but this time after just three and a half minutes of play.
- Sandro Lauper defends his team-mate, but also says: "He could act more cleverly in the first five minutes and doesn't have to go all the way in the 50:50 duel."
With just three and a half minutes played in the Europa League match between PAOK and YB, coach Gerardo Seoane is already forced to throw his match plan overboard again. Armin Gigovic is too late in a tackle, hits his opponent with an open sole and is sent off after the VAR intervenes. Again!
Just last Sunday in the match against FC Basel, Gigovic was sent to the showers prematurely when he picked up a yellow card in the 48th minute after a foul on Xherdan Shaqiri. While his team-mates were able to make up for being outnumbered against the Swiss champions and draw 0-0, things went wrong in Greece.
Seoane: "That was very unfortunate"
The Bernese were beaten 4-0 after being sent off early on. "We've now played three halves in a row with one man less. That's even more difficult at international level," said Sandro Lauper, adding: "I want to defend Gigo. He slipped against Basel and got his second yellow, which was certainly not intentional. Today, too, he wants to get into the duel and gets a classic VAR red card afterwards."
And yet Gigovic could have done better. "You could say that he could act more cleverly in the first five minutes and not follow through in the 50:50 duel," says Lauper. "He's still young and a very good footballer. He's hugely important for us," believes the veteran.
When asked about the early sending off, Gerardo Seoane said: "It's annoying, of course. In the end, it was too much of a burden over 90 minutes." But the YB coach also stands in front of his protégé: "Every player who has to leave the pitch because of a red card is disappointed and struggles with emotions afterwards. But in both situations, on Sunday as well as on Thursday, it was very unfortunate."
