Thanks to the 4-1 win in Yverdon around two weeks ago, FCB moved up to second place and spent the championship break there. At the same time, Rotblau overtook its next opponent, Servette FC. The Geneva team slipped from third to fourth place after a 1-1 draw at FC Zurich. With the encounter between the second and fourth place teams in the Super League, there is now a top game.
There hasn’t been one like this in the Joggeli for a long time. Since the introduction of the twelve-team mode, it is only the third time that two teams from the top half of the table have met in the Joggeli. The other two times this was the case in the 7th and 10th rounds of the current season in the encounters with FC Zurich and FC St.Gallen 1879 respectively. Both times, Rotblau, in sixth place, hosted the fifth-placed team.
15 points from six games
The fact that it took so long for two teams from the top third to meet in Basel is of course primarily due to FCB’s weak last season and the somewhat bumpy start to the current one. Since the small interim low in September, Fabio Celestini’s team has now found its way: the six games so far have resulted in 15 points, with FCB only losing points in the 2:3 at BSC Young Boys.
The Geneva team have had a bit of a harder time recently: at the end of October they were still at the top of the table. After three winless games in a row, they have recently slipped and, as already mentioned, were overtaken by FCB around two weeks ago. “It’s very motivating for us that everyone in the table is so close together,” said Fabio Celestini at the preview meeting on Friday. And he also set the goal for the last phase before the winter break: “We want to at least stay where we are in the table at the moment.”
All national players back healthy
A good start to these last three weeks would of course be helpful for this endeavor. But the FCB coach warns about the strengths of the upcoming opponent: “Servette has a very strong offensive. It will be important that we complete the majority of our own offensive actions in order to prevent our opponent from counterattacking. In the last two weeks we have also focused on defending in transition in order to be prepared for situations in which we are unable to finish an attack.” Ultimately, it is more important to him that his team implements its own ideas and plays to its own strengths than reacting to the opponent’s game.
Despite the absence of the suspended Anton Kade and the injured Arlet Junior Zé, Kevin Rüegg and Finn van Breemen, Celestini can rely on a large squad on Sunday. All national players returned healthy and there were no new injuries. The conditions seem to be very good for the first top game in St. Jakob-Park in a long time to be positive.
By the way, FCB will be wearing their fourth jersey against Geneva. Matchgoers can also buy this on Sunday: The fan shop opens at 10 a.m. and a jersey can be purchased by showing a season ticket or a ticket for the encounter with Servette. S het as long as s het.
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