Conference League: Lugano goodbye

Lugano’s adventure in the Conference League was in fact already over at the beginning of August, to be precise after the first leg match of the competition&#8217s third preliminary round. On Thursday night, in fact, the Helvetians suffered a resounding defeat at home by the Slovenians of Celje, who were able to impose themselves at the Stockhorn Arena in Thun with a score of 5-0 that left very little room for the Helvetians’ hopes of passing the round. In fact: this space is practically nonexistent.

With a largely re-stocked lineup, Lugano started the match promisingly thanks to a dangerous play built by Bislimi. The match, initially balanced, experienced its first jolt at 35′ when Sturm put Celje ahead. The doubling took less than ten minutes, scored on 44′ by Kovacevic on a penalty kick. Before halftime then also came a goalpost for the Slovenians.

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Despite the two changes ordered already at the beginning of the second half, the theme of the match did not change. As in the first half, it was Lugano that came close to scoring (this time with Doumbia), but Celje scored instead with Zabukovnik (59′). With three goals down, the Swiss team was no longer able to react and in fact literally collapsed. Thus Kovacevic scored again from the penalty spot at’84’ before Kvesic finally closed the score at’89’.

The Swiss team was unable to win.

Practically useless then becomes the return challenge scheduled in a week’s time precisely on the Celje field. Thus continues Lugano&#8217s extremely negative start to the season, which in the league remains stuck at 0 points after the first two games played and lost to Thun (1-2) and Sion (0-4). The Conference League could have represented a good opportunity for redemption for the Ticino players, who instead have to digest a 0-5 win with practically no appeal.