FC Luzern 4 – Grasshopper Club 2

FC Luzern was back in action yesterday after a winter break that seemed to last forever. Given the amount of snow we have had this year the two football free months were probably for the best. However, being a temporary stadium the Gersag has no under soil heating and was the subject of a late pitch inspection on Saturday. Luckily it passed the test and we got a chance to see some traditional winter football on a wet pitch.

Also worth noting is that 6277 was the lowest home attendance of the season. Cold weather and uncertainty if the game was to go-ahead could be to blame.

I have to admit I had a bad feeling before this game, GC has improved lately and somehow it felt unrealistic to hope that the great form we had ended the first half of the season with would remain.

It turned out that there was no need to worry. With only six months left to the World Cup Hakan Yakin had maybe his best game for FCL, combining great vision and ball control to make sure that Ottmar Hitzfeld does not forget how central he is to the Swiss national team.

Yakin scored after only two minutes to silence the away section, Ianu passing back the ball for a tap in. First competitive goal in 2010. Only minutes after Grasshoppers equalizes through Callà who then thought it would be a good idea to celebrate his goal by transforming his shorts to giant diapers/ nappies while running in front of the home crowd.

Even after the equalizer we were in control of the game, good passing and several near misses. The good play soon payed off,  Davide Chiumiento took the ball down on his chest an scored a beautiful goal ten minutes before half time. So far goal of the decade in Emmenbrucke.

Second half was equally good. Had Yakin not hit the post with his lob after humiliating the GC defence then he would have made Davide’s reign as scorer of the goal of the decade a short one. Instead it was an easy tap-in for Ianu. 3-1.

Yakin then scored his second and Luzerns’ fourths after a catastrophic failure in the GC defense.

We are unbeaten in the league since October 25th, three home wins and two away draws.

We are now third in the league, five points ahead of Xamax in fifth. YB (who lost 4-0 at Basel)  away on Saturday promises to be a great game, hopefully we can fill our section and support the lads.  The Young Boys are about to lose Yapi to Basel and Diving Doumbia has already his head in Russia so we should with our current form have a decent chance for at least a draw.

Intertoto here we come!