First Half
YB started the match strongly and had a good chance to score after only a few seconds. Nsame put the ball on the post with his head, but his finish was probably offside. Even after that, the Bernese kept being the more agressive team. However, there was no real danger in front of Moreira's goal, who was back between the posts today after recovering from injury. The first good GC attempt came in the 18th minute. Dadashov served Schmid on the side, but his finish landed in the outer net and was thus harmless for Racioppi in the Bernese goal. In icy temperatures, the spectators at Letzigrund saw only a few scoring chances. The next chance came on Yb's side: In the 25th minute Garcia served Fassnacht on the second post. First Moreira and then Schmid were able to clear the tricky situation. Seven minutes later, GC was on the offensive again. Kawabe was served in the box, but at the last moment his finish was blocked by an YB-defender. Then in the 38th minute the first goal: it was Fassnacht to put YB in front 0:1: after a finish from the distance the YB striker only had to tap in. GC Zurich reacted immediately and only two minutes later Herc had a good chance. However, his volley was too imprecise and pressured to build up serious scoring danger. This was also the last action in the first half.
Second Half
Just like at the beginning of the game, YB quickly showed itself on the offensive at the beginning of the second half. It was Nsame who missed after a few minutes, again from an offside-suspicious position. And the Bernese continued to press forward: a few seconds later Nsame came in front of Moreira again to finish, but Seko was able to deflect the shot decisively in the last moment. YB was clearly the better team in this phase and so head coach Contini tried to react by bringing on three newcomers with Shabani, Ndenge and debutant Hara. The Zurich team was now actually more offensive, especially with Shabani bringing momentum to the GC offense. But the Grasshoppers did not manage to create concrete chances and so it came as it was bound to happen: In the 78th minute Hara misjudged a ball in his own box and Imeri was free to shoot. The Bernese striker did not have to ask twice and put the ball unstoppably into the goal to make it 0:2. But the game was not over yet, as GC reacted immediately. Only two minutes later Kawabe launched Bolla into the box. The latter tried a low shot but put the ball just past the post. The Hoppers continued their efforts and fought until stoppage time. There, the events started to unfold. First, substitute de Carvalho scored the equalizer after Dadashov had served him on the second post. Then Elia saw the red card after an infringement, and the intervention of VAR, and had to leave the pitch. Unfortunately, the goal came too late and so it remained at the narrow loss.
For GC Zurich it goes on in one week, when we'll be facing FC Lugano away on Saturday at 6 pm.