Relegation battle in the Super League: Winterthur scores late against Yverdon to gain important point, GC second to last after defeat

(sda) FC Winterthur avoided a bitter defeat in the relegation battle in the last minute. Fabian Frei scored the 2-2 draw against Yverdon in stoppage time on Saturday evening.

Frei, who will retire after the season, scored from the penalty spot in the 96th minute. He shot into the middle, and the ball went in, even though Yverdon goalkeeper Bernardoni remained standing. Frei said in an interview with Blue afterward that his heart sank. A good 20 minutes earlier, Roman Buess had also missed a golden opportunity to equalize from eleven meters.

Yverdon had defended fiercely earlier. The visitors were even leading 2-0. The 1-0 goal was an own goal by Loic Lüthi, who had already scored an own goal in Tuesday's 4-1 defeat at FC Zurich. Marley Aké's 2-0 goal (38') was a feast for the eyes; the Frenchman turned lightning-fast before scoring his seventh goal of the season and fired home with the full instep. The home team pulled one back in first-half stoppage time. Matteo Di Giusto scored with a free kick from around 25 meters; the shot fluttered but was still not unstoppable.

Thanks to the draw, Winterthur remains one point ahead of the Vaudois, who are bottom of the table with one round remaining and would currently be relegated. Both teams will play at home in the final round next Thursday: Zurich against Sion, and Vaud against FC Zurich.

Grasshoppers enter the final round on Thursday as second-to-last. The Zurich team lost 2-1 away to Sion.

GC coach Tomas Oral fielded the same starting lineup as in the 5-0 home win against Yverdon three days earlier. However, this didn't have the desired effect. The visitors' performance was poor in the Tourbillon, which was packed with 12,000 spectators.

Sion also offered their fans a meager first half. After the break, Benjamin Kololli's show came. The Kosovar attacker opened the scoring in the 56th minute, and four minutes later, the 32-year-old made it 2-0. It was his ninth brace in the Super League and his second of the season. The opening goal was preceded by a superb deep pass from Baltazar, which Numa Lavanchy then played to Kololli at the far post.

GC largely failed to respond, lacking any solutions going forward. Tomas Veron Lupi's goal came in the 95th minute. Before that, Nikolas Muci had the record champions' best chance in the 71st minute, but Lavanchy saved the ball off the goal line for the beaten goalkeeper Timothy Fayulu. Following the defeat, the Zurich club no longer has a chance of direct league survival. They are now one point behind Winterthur and level on points with bottom-placed Yverdon. GC's final match is at home to St. Gallen on Thursday.

For Sion, it was already clear before kickoff after the 2-2 draw between Winterthur and Yverdon that they would be playing in the Super League next season. Although the Valais team bid farewell to their fans with a win, the late goal they conceded meant they missed out on keeping their first clean sheet in 2025.