With lead vests towards ruin: Grasshoppers declare bankruptcy in the derby

There was only emptiness. As the GC players crept to the fan stand after the 3-0 defeat in the derby, they were greeted by the last smoke of a dying fire. The fans had burned their choreography and fled. A few of them wanted to storm the underground car park, but the police held them back. After the third goal, a firecracker exploded as a final announcement. The Saturday before last, there had been a minute-long discussion at the Winterthur Schützenwiese. No one was in the mood for that on Saturday. There was only the silent emptiness of bottomless disappointment.

"The team was wearing lead vests; you could feel the pressure on the players," said Alain Sutter in a TV interview after the game. Sutter, who has been the new GC sporting director for a week, said he had tried to convey "a certain calmness" to the team. There was no sign of that. The Grasshoppers appeared stiff and intimidated, like a school class that knows they're going to fail before the exam. Sutter did, however, offer one more piece of advice: "Every player has to find a way to free themselves from the pressure."

GC captain Amir Abrashi didn't give the impression that he had found his way after the match. He was "out of sorts" and had to leave, the 35-year-old apologized, after even he, the GC leader, had run out of words and energy. "We have to win against Yverdon on Wednesday, otherwise the whole of GC will have a really big problem," he added.

After Yverdon's draw with Sion, GC is two points behind Yverdon at the bottom of the table. FC Winterthur continued its comeback thanks to a 4-1 win at St. Gallen, climbing to 10th place, three points ahead of GC. How can the record champions extricate themselves from this predicament?

"I don't know today," said GC coach Tomas Oral , "hopefully I'll know a day later." Oral sat next to Sutter in the stands due to suspension; the GC assistants coached the team for him. At least the German was available to answer questions after the match. "The team needed my support," said Oral, "it's my own fault that my mistake made their approach to the game even more difficult." Oral had harassed the referee in Winterthur when the referee checked his penalty whistle for GC on screen and promptly reversed it. What gives Oral the belief that his team can still pull itself out of this mire? "The first half against Winterthur," he says. That's thin, thinner than a straw, thin as a silk thread.

The fact that GC now faces direct relegation by a thread has a lot to do with the German coach. He fielded Yannick Bettkober, a 20-year-old right-back who was completely overwhelmed in his second Super League appearance. Nikolas Muci and Adama Bojang, two strikers with six goals each, remained on the bench until shortly before the final whistle. The 19-year-old Bayern loanee Nestory Irankunda has been completely out of sorts for weeks. Mathieu Choinière and Young Lee didn't even make the squad, while Sonny Kittel and YB loanee Noah Persson pulled out due to injury shortly before the match.

The coach seems to have lost his tactics, attitude, and feel for his players. "We gave away the momentum," complained Oral. Perhaps the wasted momentum will tip back to Oral's side against Yverdon, on Saturday in Sion, and the Thursday after next against FC St. Gallen, or in the play-offs thereafter, if he remains GC coach for that long.

"I'm aware that I've taken on a Herculean task," Sutter said before the match. After Saturday's defeat, it looks like the "Herculean task" could begin in the Challenge League. GC has experience with this. After being relegated in 2019, the record champions returned to the Super League under Chinese ownership. Now the owners are based in Los Angeles. How they are dealing with the impending relegation is unknown.

At a business meeting in Hamburg at the end of February, GC President Stacy Johns said they were "on the right track in Zurich." In an interview, Johns described the play-off against FC Thun in spring 2024 as the highlight of her presidency . "I won the Super Bowl and the MLS Cup. Nevertheless, the 2-1 second leg win against FC Thun was the most incredible victory I've ever experienced." Perhaps Johns will experience something similar again at the end of May, against FC Aarau or Étoile Carouge. Anything is still possible.