Lugano – Union Saint-Gilloise

The teams will play an open style and exchange goals

Union St. Gillois were considered favourites for the first meeting against their Swiss rival. On the one hand, Alexander Blessin's wards lived up to expectations. On the other hand, Lugano gave the hosts of the Belgian stadium many times more trouble than expected. Having said that, the first factor looks more important before the return meeting. Union scored two unanswered goals in the 8th and 71st minutes, while Lugano failed to convert any of their six shots on goal into goals. Before the match in Switzerland, bookmakers consider the guests as favourites to win in regulation time, but offer a very modest difference in the odds. Lugano are three-time Swiss champions, but the club won the last title in the first full season of the current century. In recent years, the best achievement of the team was the third place of the last championship. Moreover, the team could well oust Servette from the second position and take part in the Champions League qualification. In addition, Lugano lost in the Swiss Cup final to Young Boys in early June this year, becoming vice-champions in the second highest tournament in the country. Mattia Crocchi-Torti's team started the new Superleague season at the end of July, winning three of their opening four games. The team won both matches on home ground by a combined score of 7-1. After the vice-championship title that Union St Gillois won at the end of the 2021/2022 season (just after promotion), the team had ambitions to win the last championship. Having gained as many points as leading Genk in the main part of the tournament, Union lost disastrously to Brugge in the last round of the championship stage and finished third instead of first place. The disappointment of the end of last season did not lead to any strict conclusions of the club's management, so Union appeared at the beginning of the current season in a more or less familiar form. Like the upcoming opponent, the Brussels club won three of the four starting rounds, but one of the two away matches lost to Mechelen with a score of 0:4. Most likely, we should expect a roughly equal football game on Wednesday, which will end with an exchange of goals.