Zurich dismayed, Lausanne elated

"After the way the season has gone so far, that's not really surprising either." Once again, Alain Sutter has to stand up after his team has put in an inadequate performance - this time against a lower-ranked team. While the home fans storm the Pontaise pitch and cheer the players, the GC sporting director doesn't sugarcoat anything. "After conceding the first goal, we couldn't come up with anything. Lausanne had the game under control."

Reaching the final would have been a solitary highlight in what has been a dismal season so far. But after a solid start, the Zurich team seemed increasingly lethargic. The prospect of possibly celebrating the 20th cup title in the club's history hardly seemed to spur the players on. "Now we have to deal with the next blow," said Sutter.

No tailwind in the fight to stay in the league

Last weekend, the team from Zurich had seemingly managed to break free: they won 2:0 away against Winterthur, which means that direct relegation should no longer be an issue with five rounds remaining. However, the team, which has been coached by Gernot Messner for the past month following the dismissal of Gerald Scheiblehner, showed no signs of courage.

As a result, GC missed out on entering the decisive phase of the season with a tailwind. After all, a third relegation to the second tier is not yet off the table; a difficult barrage duel with Aarau or Vaduz looms. In any case, Sutter already seems to be counting on it: "Everything will be at stake for us in the next seven games." It is important to refocus once again. A demand that has often been made this season, but which has rarely been followed by a clear response.

SLO faces big premiere

On the other hand, the Lausanne players were exuberant. "We were physically on top of our game. And the longer the game went on, the better we got," said defender Théo Barbet. "For me, we were simply superior to them." In the previous rounds, two other Super League teams, Winterthur and Lucerne, had already failed to overcome the defensive bulwark of Stade Lausanne-Ouchy.

Now the Vaud side are looking forward to the first cup final in the club's history. It is the greatest success since 2023 and the sensational promotion to the Super League, from which the club had to leave after just one season. For coach Dalibor Stevanovic's team, there is still something to play for in the spring: Lausanne are 26 points behind second-placed Aarau and 18 points ahead of bottom-placed Bellinzona in the league standings.