Thun captain takes on other roles Marco Bürki: "Pressure is not an issue for our team"

The Challenge League season is entering the hot phase. Among others, FC Thun is also playing for promotion. At the most important time of all, captain Marco Bürki is condemned to watch. He talks to blue Sport about his current role.

The battle for direct promotion to the Super League is entering the hot phase. With ten rounds to go, FC Aarau are top of the table with 51 points, followed by FC Thun one point behind. Étoile Carouge are seven points behind the Bernese Oberland team.

At FC Thun, promotion was already defined as a goal at the start of the season. This clear formulation of the goal has gone down well with the players: "As a team, we are big advocates for it," says captain Marco Bürki (31). "That surprised me too. But pressure is never an issue in the team."

This has also been communicated to the staff. The focus is on daily training and Thun want to "go into the games with the right amount of relaxation or tension". The atmosphere in the dressing room is still great ahead of the final phase of the season.

Lustrinelli: "Continuity will be crucial"

Thun coach Mauro Lustrinelli (49) echoes similar sentiments: "It's important to me that the focus is on the daily work, on the mindset. I find it useful for our game to keep the focus there. The results will then simply follow."

The latest results speak for the work of the Thun team. In the last five games, they were only beaten by direct rivals Aarau. Lustrinelli is not yet too worried about promotion: "With consistent performance and results, there will certainly be a chance of promotion."

Marco Bürki is keeping an eye on the table, for him the goal difference is what counts most and could play a role in the end: "That's also what I find important, how many goals you concede and score. As a defender, I aspire to be the best defensive player. Our offense certainly also has the ambition to be the best attack."

While the team is doing well, the 31-year-old is experiencing difficult times. Before the national team break, Bürki suffered a broken metatarsal bone and will be out for several weeks. Bürki was already out injured at the start of the season, but in the current situation it still annoys him that he "can't be active on the training pitch with his team-mates and can't actively make a difference on the pitch at the weekend".

All the more reason for him to influence the mental state of the other players. "I can take more time with each individual, perhaps even with those players who don't get as much of a chance and can play an extremely important role over the course of the season."

Important as captain off the pitch too

The captain is particularly close to those players who are going through periods of suffering similar to his own: "I'm thinking of Hermann Tebily, who we don't know when he'll be back, but is now back in team training. He's had a long injury break. Or Mathías Tomás, who has just joined us and is having a difficult time at the moment." The Uruguayan midfielder underwent surgery on his arm a few weeks ago due to a thrombosis. The season is already over for him.

As blue Sport reporter Chris Augsburger learned from FC Thun's head of media, the captain not only talks to his teammates, but is also generally the team's mouthpiece. He also organizes excursions and team events. It is thanks to him that the atmosphere in the team is so good.

During the national team break, Thun played a test match against Lausanne, which ended in a 2-2 draw. They then had a few days to "take a deep breath and clear their heads so that they can fully attack in the last ten games". Marco Bürki hopes to be able to do this again on the pitch at the end of May in order to "win every game".

FC Thun will face Neuchâtel Xamax in the Stockhorn Arena on March 28. blue Sport will broadcast the match live from 20:05.

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