Servette and Lausanne compete in the Conference League play-off, Lugano says goodbye to the European Cup

(sda) Servette lost to Utrecht in the third qualifying round of the Europa League. After a 3-1 defeat in Geneva, the French-speaking Swiss team lost 2-1 in the Netherlands.

For Jocelyn Gourvennec, it was her first game as Servette's head coach. However, the new coach, who succeeded Thomas Häberli, who was released ten days ago, failed to pull off a surprise turnaround. The fourth-place team in the recent Dutch championship was too callous.

After 56 minutes and Utrecht's opening goal, Geneva's last hopes of advancing were extinguished. Servette goalkeeper Joël Mall let a ball bounce forward, and Victor Jensen only had to slot it in. With a quarter of an hour to go, the Dane sealed the victory with his second goal after a superbly executed counterattack. Even a confident penalty converted by Servette's new signing Ablie Jallow couldn't change the outcome.

The Genevans could still advance to a European Cup group stage. However, in the Conference League, they face Shakhtar Donetsk in the decisive playoff matches.

The victory doesn't bring much, apart from the Swiss points for the UEFA rankings. Coach Mattia Croci-Torti's team lost the first leg a week ago 5-0. Their European Cup adventure is thus over for this season.

FC Lugano's match in Celje began at the same time as Servette, where the Ticino club deservedly won. They took an early lead through Anto Grgic, who scored from the penalty spot. In the final 20 minutes, Antonios Papadopoulos (70th minute), Renato Steffen (81st minute), and Ezgjan Alioski (83rd minute) turned the deficit from 1-2 to 4-2.

The victory doesn't bring much, apart from the Swiss points for the UEFA rankings. Coach Mattia Croci-Torti's team lost the first leg a week ago 5-0. Their European Cup adventure is thus over for this season.

Earlier in the evening, Lausanne-Sport hadn't let themselves slip in the second leg of the Conference League's third qualifying round in Astana. The Vaudois side won 2-0, having already won the first leg 3-1. This means they have to skip another qualifying round to advance to the group stage.

Thanks to their first-leg victory, coach Peter Zeidler's team took things a bit more leisurely in the Kazakh capital. They gradually shook off the strain of the more than 4,500-kilometer journey and three-hour time difference. Beyatt Lekoueriy scored Lausanne's first goal shortly after halftime, and Gaoussou Diakité scored midway through the second half to send the few traveling French-speaking Swiss fans into jubilation.

Lausanne-Sport is one qualifying round away from reaching a European Cup group stage for the first time in fifteen years. However, their playoff challenge is likely to be much more difficult than in the qualifying rounds: they face top Turkish club Besiktas Istanbul.