FC Lugano open the European Cup season from a Swiss perspective. On Tuesday, the Ticino side will host Fenerbahce Istanbul in the 2nd qualifying round for the Champions League.
23.07.2024, 04:00
23.07.2024, 08:46
SDA
On Tuesday evening, FC Lugano will play the first of at least three games in Thun. Last season's Super League runners-up chose the Bernese Oberland for their exile after the stadiums in St. Gallen and Zurich had to stand in for the Cornaredo at home in previous European Cup years.
The Luganesi will not enjoy the same level of support, at least for their first appearance as a home team in the Stockhorn Arena in Thun. Although almost all of the 6000 tickets available have already been sold, around 5000 have gone to Fenerbahce fans traveling from the surrounding area, according to a report in the Thuner Tagblatt. The fact that the guest sector has to remain closed at the behest of UEFA is therefore of no consequence. The 19-time Turkish champions will not be short of supporters.
A few days after the start of the Super League season, a mammoth task awaits Lugano if they are to stay in the Champions League - and then have to go for their next exploit against French side Lille. The path to the group stage of the top flight is tough. The group stages in the Europa League or the Conference League seem more realistic. The math is simple: three wins in qualifying means Champions League, two Europa League, one Conference League and none means an early exit from the European Cup.
Two satisfied teams
Lugano can look forward to the encounter with Fenerbahce with a certain amount of ease. The pressure is on the visitors, who are playing their first competitive match under new coach José Mourinho. As the championship in Turkey does not begin for more than three weeks, Fenerbahce have had to intensify their recent preparations. This seems to have worked well with clear test match victories against England's second division side Hull City (5:1) and France's Ligue 1 club Strasbourg (4:0).
Lugano have one serious match ahead of the Turks and can be satisfied with this one. The 2:1 win against Grasshoppers on Saturday prompted Mattia Croci-Torti to joke. Asked about the weak start and the 1-0 deficit at the break, the coach said: "It's my fault. The players must have understood it was 6.30pm instead of 6.00pm when I said kick-off." However, Croci-Torti noted that they had shown character after the unsuccessful first half hour.
Livakovic, Tadic and Dzeko
On paper at least, the task against Fenerbahce looks more demanding than the one against GC. Mourinho's team includes eight European Championship participants, among them Serbian playmaker Dusan Tadic, Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic and Turkish defender Mert Müldür, who scored the goal of the tournament with his volley against Georgia at the European Championships. The 38-year-old Edin Dzeko, who scored twice against Hull City on Thursday, is likely to start up front.
