Late Zurich goal deluge sinks Lucerne

Zurich have inflicted a crushing 7-2 defeat against Lucerne in the first semi-final of the Swiss football cup. The teams were evenly matched after 90 minutes, but then Zurich scored an incredible five goals in extra time.

The game could have gone either way during regular time. The teams matched each other goal for goal, with the scores level at two-all at full time.

Then Lucerne began to fall apart. Zurich’s South African player, Shaun Bartlett, completed a hat-trick in the 94th-minute. Four minutes later, Mario Frick took the score to four-two.

After that, it took Zurich just eight minutes to push the tally to 7-2. By the end, it would have been charitable to say Lucerne’s defence was in tatters.

The man of match was unquestionably Bartlett, scoring in both the first and second halves, before initiating Lucerne’s collapse with a third goal as the match went into extra time.

Zurich’s remaining goals were scored by Giorgio Del Signore (penalty), Gocha Jamarauli and Frédéric Chassot.

The victory is a stunning endorsement for Zurich’s new trainer, Gilbert Gress, who’ll now be focusing on the final, to be played against the winner of next week’s semi between Lausanne and Lugano.

It will be the seventh time Zurich have reached the final. The last time the team met Lausanne was in 1981, when they were defeated 4-3.

swissinfo with agencies