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Servette win Swiss Cup final

Servette's players celebrate their cup victory Keystone

Servette Geneva cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Yverdon in Sunday's Swiss Cup final, winning the competition for the seventh time in the club's history.

The writing was on the wall for Yverdon as early as the 11th minute when Johann Lonfat leapt above a statuesque defence to head in a pinpoint leftwing cross from Martin Petrov.

Eighteen minutes later the underdogs found themselves 2-0 down after their defence once again failed to deal with a ball from the left. Petrov, in his last game for Servette, was again the danger man, weaving into the Yverdon area before burying the ball in the net.

There was further misery for Yverdon in the 55th minute when Alex Frei, who saved Switzerland’s blushes in the Faroe Islands a week ago, sent his supporters into further raptures with a little piece of magic.

Yoann Lachor sent in a deep cross from the left which Frei brought down beautifully on his chest before firing in a left foot shot past Yverdon’s helpless goalkeeper, Mickaël Minder.

“Our collective play made the difference,” Servette manager Lucien Favre told swissinfo after the final whistle. “We had to win this game, because we were the clear favourites and it was expected of us.”

As well as putting a welcome shine on an otherwise lacklustre season, Servette’s cup triumph brings with it a place in next season’s UEFA Cup.

“It’s important for the future of Servette to be in the UEFA Cup,” Favre beamed. “We have to look three or four years into the future when we are due to have our new stadium ready. Before then we need to build an efficient, spectacular team with more stability than we have at the moment.

“But for now it’s very important for the city of Geneva and its morale that it will be represented in Europe.”

While Servette’s players celebrated, defeat in the cup final brought to an end a disappointing season for Yverdon, whose league campaign recently ended with relegation from Switzerland’s top division.

“Despite the clear defeat I congratulate my team,” said disappointed Yverdon coach Philippe Perret. “No-one wanted to see us in the final, but my side gave everything they could.”

swissinfo

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR