Mercenary check Rieder misses golden goal from three meters ++ Kobel let down ++ Ndoye shines

17.2.2025

Who shone, who fell short? blue Sport follows the performances of the Swiss mercenaries very closely.

17.02.2025, 16:49

17.02.2025, 16:58

🇩🇪 Bundesliga

Bayer Leverkusen

Granit Xhaka

Leverkusen couldn't get past the harmless league leaders from Munich with a 0-0 draw. That's not down to Xhaka. The national team captain created several top chances in the top match, but none of them were converted by his Bayer attacking colleagues.

Defensively, Xhaka did not make any mistakes until the 81st minute, when he lost the ball in the build-up and was lucky that Bayern were unable to capitalize on the resulting chance.

Dortmund

Gregor Kobel

Dortmund's subterranean Bundesliga form continued at bottom-of-the-table Bochum. Once again, however, it was not Kobel's fault that BVB suffered the next blow in their fight for a Champions League place in the 2-0 defeat on Saturday.

The international goalkeeper made two strong saves from Masouras in the opening stages, but was unable to prevent the Greek from scoring the opening goal in the 33rd minute. Bochum's Hofmann catches him out with the assist from an acute angle - somehow you get the feeling that Kobel would have held a ball like that last season ...

Two minutes later, Kobel suddenly finds himself one-on-one with Masouras after a horrendous misplaced pass from BVB defender Süle and scores his second. It's already 0:2.

In the second half, Kobel first makes saves against Holtmann, Krauss and Sissoko, followed by a brilliant double block in another one-on-one with Masouras, which is again preceded by a gross defensive blunder. Kobel will have a serious word to say to his back four ahead of the second leg of the Champions League play-off against Sporting.

Gladbach

Jonas Omlin

Returns to action against Union Berlin for the first time since matchday 3, as Moritz Nicolas is forced off after 20 minutes with an adductor injury. Interesting: The Swiss immediately takes over the captain's armband.

He then has nothing to do for a long time apart from applaud his team-mates' second goal. Then suddenly there's a penalty for Union, but unfortunately Omlin chooses the wrong corner against Ilic.

With the score at 2:1, Gladbach are then pushed in behind towards the end, but the Swiss player makes a strong save from Rothe to hold on to the point.

Gladbach

Nico Elvedi

Elvedi is back in the starting line-up after an infection and has his feet in the game ten minutes into the build-up before Gladbach make it 1-0. Does a good job after that.

Mainz 05

Silvan Widmer

Has to sit on the bench again at the start against Heidenheim and only comes into the game in the 78th minute when the score is 2-0. Helps to keep the three points alive.

Stuttgart

Luca Jaquez

Still waiting for his baptism of fire at VfB. In the 2-1 defeat against Wolfsburg, he sits on the bench for the entire match.

Stuttgart

Leonidas Stergiou

Stergiou is also just a spectator against the Wolves.

Stuttgart

Fabian Rieder

The only Swiss player in the Stuttgart kit to make a brief appearance on the pitch. Rieder came on for Karazor in the 88th minute and immediately crept dangerously into the five-meter area. There he sees a delicate cross coming towards him, but three meters from the empty goal he can't get his feet sorted properly and misses the delivery. A very bitter moment for the Swiss player - it would have been a late equalizer for the home team.

Augsburg

Cédric Zesiger

Augsburg are still unbeaten in the current Bundesliga season with Cédric Zesiger. This streak continues against RB Leipzig. The ex-YB defender impressed for 90 minutes in the 0-0 draw. He only missed a header shortly before the end and was lucky that Leipzig only hit the crossbar afterwards.

Frankfurt

Aurèle Amenda

Sits on the bench again. Frankfurt beat Holstein Kiel 3-1 without Amenda.

Freiburg

Bruno Ifechukwu Ogbus

Continues to miss the 1-0 win against St. Pauli through injury (Achilles tendon tear).

Freiburg

Johan Manzambi

Started and finished the game on the bench. Manzambi once again does not get any minutes against St. Pauli.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Premier League

Manchester City

Manuel Akanji

During the week, Akanji suffers an adductor injury in the Champions League match against Real Madrid, which turns out to be more serious than initially thought after examinations.

Akanji will therefore not be on the pitch against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. Instead, he will undergo surgery on the same day and is now expected to be "out for eight to ten weeks".

A bitter pill to swallow for the national team defender, who will also have to miss Switzerland's test matches against Northern Ireland (March 21 in Belfast) and Luxembourg (March 25 in St. Gallen).

Setback for national team defenderAkanji out until the end of April with adductor injury

Newcastle

Fabian Schär

With Fabian Schär, however, there will still be a Swiss player on the pitch at the Etihad. Albeit in the kit of the visitors from Newcastle - and they really came under fire against ManCity.

Schär was not clearly to blame for any of the goals in the 4-0 defeat, but - like his colleagues - was repeatedly overwhelmed by the home team's pace. It was a heavy defeat for the northern English side in the battle for a Champions League place.

🇮🇹 Serie A

Inter Milan

Yann Sommer

Sommer puts in a good performance in the Derby d'Italia against Juventus Turin. He made strong saves from González and Conceição in the opening stages, but was unable to do anything about the latter's 74th-minute opener from close range.

If his attacking colleagues had made better use of their chances, Inter could definitely have scored more. As it was, the Nerazzurri lost 1-0 in Turin.

Napoli

Noah Okafor

After his mini appearance against Udinese, Okafor didn't get any more minutes at his new club. In the 2:2 draw against Lazio, the Swiss player sits on the bench for the entire match.

Bologna

Dan Ndoye

The Swiss attacking star almost single-handedly scored his side to a 3-2 win against Torino on Friday evening. After a burst of pace in the 20th minute, the 24-year-old scored from an acute angle from the right and took responsibility from the spot in the 70th minute.

Ndoye turned things around with the penalty, which he coolly slotted into the bottom left corner to make it 2:2. In the end, Bologna snatched victory thanks to a Torino own goal in the 90th minute.

Bologna

Michel Aebischer

Is now back after his injury lay-off, but sits on the bench against Torino, as he did in the previous three games. He gets a few more minutes from the 87th minute onwards, but no longer makes an impact.

Bologna

Remo Freuler

Plays through 90 minutes as usual. Freuler has missed just 33 minutes for Bologna in Serie A this season. He was at fault for winning the ball before the 1-0, but he wasn't largely to blame for the goals conceded.

Empoli

Nicolas Haas

Is still missing for Empoli with a knee injury. The only good thing about it: Haas is not to blame for the 3-0 defeat against Udinese.

Parma

Simon Sohm

Parma were unable to capitalize on the Empoli defeat, losing 1-0 to AS Roma. Sohm and Co. thus remain trapped in a relegation place. The Swiss played 90 minutes, but was unable to make any real impact.

🇪🇸 LaLiga

Betis Sevilla

Ricardo Rodriguez

Rodriguez plays 90 minutes against Real Sociedad and doesn't have much to do at the back. Real Betis are down to nine players after two red cards against the Basque side. The result was a clear 3:0 victory.

Sevilla

Djibril Sow

Sow played the full 90 minutes in Sevilla's 4-0 win over Real Valladolid and was neither on nor off the pitch. He was not involved in the goals.

Sevilla

Ruben Vargas

But that's Vargas. After his lightning goal against Barcelona the previous week, the Swiss player managed a lightning assist in the game against Real Valladolid. In the 4th minute, he cut inside from the left wing and his cross found teammate Juanlu Sánchez, who scored to make it 1:0 for the visitors.

He then had two more opportunities to score himself, but failed to hit the ball properly on the first and put the ball just over the bar once in the second half.

Real Valladolid

Eray Cömert

At the other end, Eray Cömert sits on the bench for 90 minutes.

🇫🇷 Ligue 1

AS Monaco

Philipp Köhn

Is again on the bench in the 7-1 win against Nantes.

AS Monaco

Denis Zakaria

Zakaria plays the full distance as usual. He is not to blame for the early goal. Later, he is at the origin of the decisive 3:1 with a beautiful pin pass. Thanks to the victory, Monaco remain two points ahead of Lille in a Champions League place.

AS Monaco

Breel Embolo

After his poor performance against PSG - when he was on the pitch for 84 minutes - Embolo did not feature at all against Nantes. It remains to be seen whether this is due to his current performance or the clear victory and the thought of taking it easy for the upcoming Champions League play-off second leg against Benfica (first leg 0:1). We hope the latter.

Marseille

Ulisses Garcia

Sits on the bench for the full match in the 5:1 win against Saint-Étienne.

Toulouse

Vincent Sierro

After his calf injury, Sierro is back in the starting line-up against PSG. However, the Swiss was clearly not yet fully fit and was substituted in the 70th minute with the score at 0:1. He made no mistake in conceding the goal from a corner kick. Others are responsible for the goal threat up front.

Montpellier

Becir Omeragic

In the previous week, the former FCZ player injured his meniscus and will be out for at least two months.

Stade Brest

Edimilson Fernandes

Fernandes starts against Auxerre and plays the full distance. Fernandes is a little late for the first goal conceded, otherwise he doesn't make any big mistakes, but can't really get involved in the attacking play either. The game ends 2:2.

Other Swiss players abroad

Benfica Lisbon

Zeki Amdouni

His beautiful, low cross from the right in the 55th minute finds a successful recipient in Bruma. It is Amdouni's second assist in the Portuguese league this season, which means he is currently on target every 91 minutes (5 goals, 2 assists).

Feyenoord Rotterdam

Jordan Lotomba

Still missing through injury. Feyenoord drew 0-0 against Breda and face the second leg of their Champions League play-off against AC Milan on Tuesday.

Fortuna Sittard

Ryan Fosso

Fortuna Sittard will play their next match on February 23rd against AZ Alkmaar.

Ludogorets Razgrad

Kwadwo Duah

Kwadwo Duah is currently out with a muscle injury.

Bruges

Ardon Jashari

Impressed in the 2-2 draw against St. Truiden with dangerous balls up top and failed to get a good finish past the opposing goalkeeper in the 20th minute. Replaced after 61 minutes, the second leg of the Champions League play-off against Atalanta awaits on Tuesday.

Standard Liège

Andi Zeqiri

Started from the beginning but was substituted in the 65th minute after a lacklustre performance.

KAA Gent

Franck Surdez

Did not get any minutes in the 3-2 win against Beerschot.

Midtjylland

Kevin Mbabu

Midtjylland made a winning return to the Danish league after the winter break. Mbabu's team won 1-0 against Lyngby, with the Swiss only coming on for the final few minutes shortly before the end. On Thursday, the Danes visit Real Sociedad in the Europa League.

Sturm Graz

Gregory Wüthrich

Sturm Graz go down 3-0 against Wolfsberger AC. Wüthrich has certainly had better performances. Before the 0:1 he gets in the way of his teammate, which leads to the decisive ball loss, before the second goal he lets himself be played a little too easily.

Lorient remain top of Ligue 2 with Mvogo keeping a clean sheet for 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Troyes.

Greuter Fürth

Noah Loosli

After his strong debut for Fürth, Loosli doesn't do everything on Saturday in the 2-0 defeat against Elversberg. He didn't show the best positioning on the first goal that came his way. Shortly afterwards, he almost set up the 0:2 - luckily for the Swiss, Elversberg attacker Aslani fails to score from the best position after his failed clearance.

He was then less fortunate at 0-2. His header deflection does not fly far enough and is directly volleyed home. That is bitter.

HSV (Bundesliga 2)

Miro Muheim

After a 1-1 draw against Regensburg, HSV miss out on a move to the top of the Bundesliga 2 table.

Muheim finds himself confronted by two opponents at the far post at 0-1. He tries to cover the space, but just misses the ball and is unable to block the shot. It's not really his fault.

Offensively, he makes his mark. Shortly before the break, he created a lot of goalscoring danger with a well-taken corner and shortly afterwards failed to beat the opposing goalkeeper with a shot. He plays for 90 minutes.

HSV (Bundesliga 2)

Silvan Hefti

Hefti is deployed on the right side of the defense and also plays from the start. On the counter-attack before the 0:1, he is unable to stop an important pass. He is not to blame for the 0:2, but the St.Gallen player remains pale in front. He was substituted in the 58th minute.

1. FC Kaiserslautern (Bundesliga 2)

Jan Elvedi

With Cologne and HSV both falling behind, Kaiserslautern could have taken the lead in the Bundesliga 2 table with a win against Hannover. Elvedi played the full 90 minutes and did not concede a goal. But because his boys were also unsuccessful up front, the game ended 0-0.

Karlsruher SC (Bundesliga 2)

Andrin Hunziker

KSC lose 2-1 to Schalke, with Hunziker still missing due to a hip injury. He made his last appearance on December 1 in the 3-1 defeat to HSV.

Schalke 04 (Bundesliga 2)

Adrian Gantenbein

Schalke 04 gained some breathing space with the win against KSC and moved into mid-table. Gantenbein is substituted in the 69th minute with the score at 2:1. He was yellow-carded in the 87th minute, but kept things tight at the back.

SSV Ulm 1846 (Bundesliga 2)

Aaron Keller

Was in the starting line-up against Nuremberg, but was unable to prevent the 2-0 defeat. Although Ulm's defense held firm for a long time despite being outnumbered, they conceded two goals shortly before the end. Keller was substituted in the 91st minute in favor of a last offensive rebellion.

1. FC Köln (Bundesliga 2)

Anthony Racioppi

As with Hull City, currently the No. 2 for Cologne, still awaiting his first appearance with the Geissböcken.

Queens Park Rangers (Championship)

Michael Frey

Wins 4-0 with Queen Park Rangers against Derby County. He is responsible for the assist on the first goal, the other goals are scored without his involvement. Was substituted in the 73rd minute.