Young Boys miss out on topping football league table

Lugano (white) and Young Boys Bern (yellow) battle it out on the field during Saturday's match Keystone

Young Boys Bern missed out on the chance to go top of the Swiss football league on Saturday after they drew with last year's runners-up, Lugano, 0:0.

Lugano were left struggling when Olivier Biaggi was red carded in the 73rd minute closely followed by Joël Magnin in the 86th. The Ticinese team were also without Rjiad Shala and Raphaël Darbellay, who are injuried

Saturday’s result puts Lugano in fourth place behind Geneva-based side Servette who have a game in hand and are set to play FC Zurich on Sunday.

Elsewhere Neuchâtel Xamax stormed to a 4:1 victory over Lucerne. Neuchâtel’s Jérôme Schneider slammed the first goal into the back of the net in the 27th minute with Lucerne failing to equalise until the 63rd minute, when striker Montero scored.

But it was the action in the last 15 minutes of the game that clinched the resounding Neuchâtel victory with a goal from Christophe Tranchet and two from Alex.

The high scoring victory will come as good news to Neuchâtel who had only scored eight goals in eleven matches before Saturday’s show-down. They are now 10th in the league table with Lucerne sitting at the bottom in 12th place.

In the new St Jakob Park stadium in Basel, the home team beat Sion 2:1 in front of a 19,000 strong crowd.

Basel’s Christian Gimenez scored the first goal by blasting one past Sion’s goalie in the 44th minute. The French-speaking side didn’t equalise until the second half when Juilen Poueys made it 1:1.

But this was not the only goal Sion would score, because in the 88th minute Jean-Pierre Tcheutchoua scored an own goal sealing Sion’s fate and delivering Basel’s home win.

Despite the own goal Sion still remain higher than their opponents in the league table. Sion are currently in fifth place with Basel trailing in the middle in seventh place with a game in hand.

swissinfo with agencies