St. Gallen is a clear outsider in the Conference League on Thursday against the Portuguese from Vitoria Guimaraes.
Tightened the screw after the cup out
St. Gallens Trainer Enrico Maassen.
Freshfocus/Claudio De Capitani
Despite only 4 points from 4 games and 25th place in the table, St. Gallen can still advance in the Conference League. The remaining opponents are well-known with Vitoria Guimaraes (home) and Heidenheim (away). After being able to at least partially rehabilitate themselves for the disappointing exit in the cup against Bellinzona in the 1-1 draw against Basel at the weekend, Enrico Maassen is correspondingly combative.
«We won’t give away a game at all. As long as there is the possibility of moving forward, that is our biggest goal. We want to play an intense game,” said the coach before the showdown with Guimaraes on Thursday. It’s the last home game this year.
FCSG extends with Geubbels
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St. Gallen and the currently injured striker Willem Geubbels have extended their contract, which expires in summer 2025, by two years. The 23-year-old Frenchman came from AS Monaco in January 2023 and scored 18 times in 73 games for the Eastern Swiss team. This season, Geubbels has eight goals in all competitions.
Görtler happily accepts the role of outsider
Against “one of the best teams from Portugal” (Maassen) you have to present yourself better than FC Zurich, who had no chance twice in qualifying for the third highest European competition and were eliminated with an overall score of 0:5. Most recently, St. Gallen came out of the affair much better against Backa Topola (2:2) than Lugano, which lost 1:4 to the same opponent.
Captain Lukas Görtler doesn’t know the strong team from Guimaraes particularly well. It is clear that the current sixth place in the Portuguese league is better on paper. “But it has been convenient for us a few times this season that we weren’t the favorites. I am convinced that we can achieve something.”
TV note
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You can see a detailed summary of the game on Thursday evening at 11:00 p.m. in the program “Europa League – Highlights” on SRF two.
Exploitation of opportunities as a problem
Get something – in Maassen’s opinion, this is exactly what has recently not been achieved or has only been achieved insufficiently, considering the effort put in. «We have many games in which we play well, but not until the end. Lots of draws, lots of narrow defeats, even though we were clearly better.”
We are the team with the second most missed big chances in the Conference League.
In crucial moments – as the game against Backa Topola made clear – there is still a lack of maturity and precision when exploiting opportunities. Maassen points to the statistics: “We are the team with the second highest expected goals value behind Basel in the Super League. In the Conference League we are the team with the second most missed big chances after Chelsea FC. That’s an indication that we’re doing a lot of things well.”
Conference League
Swiss
