Grasshoppers on top
Grasshoppers Zurich have leapt to the top of the Swiss football league for the first time this season thanks to a 3-1 away win over Lausanne.
A hat-trick from Swiss international Stéphane Chapuisat saw the Zurich club take pole position for at least 24 hours – defending champions St Gallen can take the top spot back on Sunday with an away win over Grasshoppers’ city rivals, FC Zurich.
Lausanne’s cause was not helped on Saturday by the dismissal of two of their players. The club’s Polish top scorer Marcin Kuzba was sent off five minutes into the second half after picking up his second yellow card, while Alain Masudi was shown a red card for unsporting behaviour with 19 minutes remaining.
Winter champions Lugano fell two points below Grasshoppers after their three-match winning streak came to an end with a 1-1 draw at home to Servette Geneva.
The Ticinese side were a man up for almost the entire second half after Switzerland’s Léonard Thurre saw red for a blatant foul on Badile Lubamba. But it was Servette who grabbed the first goal, Nigerian midfielder Wilson Oruma scoring in the 73rd minute.
With just eight minutes to go, Lugano avoided an embarrassing defeat, Sergio Bastida scoring the equaliser from a free-kick given for a foul on Kubilay Türkyilmaz.
Saturday’s only other top division game saw a 1-0 win for Basel in Sion, with another Swiss international, Hakan Yakin, grabbing the only goal of the match.
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