Lugano striker Kevin Behrens provides a fitting response to his scandal two weeks ago in Lucerne - with a brace. Rolf Fringer can even take something positive from the inglorious incident.
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- Lugano striker Kevin Behrens made amends with two goals in Lucerne after a freak-out in a test match and an internal penalty.
- Despite provocative celebratory gestures, he put in a strong performance with his brace and increased his season goal tally to eight.
- blue Sport expert Rolf Fringer even sees Behrens' behavior as a sign of leadership.
During the test match in Spain, Lugano striker Kevin Behrens went completely berserk, insulting and even shoving his team-mate Giorgos Koutsias. Behrens later apologized to Koutsias, his team-mates and the club for the incident, but the damage to his image was considerable.
Behrens will be in the starting eleven for the start of 2026 in Lucerne on Saturday evening. And the German showed that he can also make sporting headlines. In stoppage time of the first half, Behrens put his team 3:1 ahead from an acute angle. After the goal, he puts his index finger to his mouth in front of the Lucerne fans and doesn't win any sympathy points in the Swissporarena.
Instead, after just over an hour, he scores a brace with a powerful header - instead of "quietly cheering", he shows off his six-pack abs. It is his eighth goal of the Super League season, and he has scored four goals in the last three games.
Pelzer and club show mercy
In an interview with blue Sport before the game, Lugano's sporting director Sebastian Pelzer said that exchanges of words on the pitch were nothing out of the ordinary. "Nevertheless, Kevin should not react like that. We carefully analyzed the situation internally and then issued a punishment," explained the 45-year-old.
The 34-year-old is said to have received a record fine from the club. However, some fans called for him to be sacked. "Suspending an employment contract is not that easy," explains Pelzer, adding: "If you make a mistake and then credibly communicate that you are sorry - after the debate, we decided to take this route."
Fringer: "Setting an example with the action"
Former national team coach Rolf Fringer would also have taken the pragmatic approach, as he emphasized in the blue Sport studio. Of course, the way in which Behrens attacked his team-mate was not acceptable. Nevertheless, he sees more positives than negatives in the scandal.
"Something happened that didn't suit Behrens. These days, a lot of players are just nice to each other. Everyone says nothing to each other," says Fringer. "He's a man, not a boy. He simply didn't put up with something. With this action, he also sent a signal to the team that you have to leave your comfort zone if you want to achieve something," he believes.
"You need players who put their elbows out and say: 'Bürschtli, that's not enough, I want to win the title'," summarizes Fringer. With their 5:2 win in Lucerne, the Ticino side sent out a signal that they are a force to be reckoned with in the title race.
"With his two goals, Behrens wanted to show his team-mates that he had made a mistake. He wanted to go full throttle today to help the team," said Lugano coach Mattia Croci-Torti. Uran Bislimi - the midfielder even scored a hat-trick - also emphasized that "nothing was broken" internally in the affair.
The three points would help. "If we win, everything is fine. Otherwise there's more talk about it," summarizes Bislimi. Rolf Fringer's conclusion is also simple: "The debt is good for Kevin Behren."
