EHis predecessor paid in praise: “Congratulations to David Wagner, who does a fantastic job with his staff,” said Gerardo Seoane, Bayer Leverkusen’s coach, the morning after Young Boys Bern’s 2-1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League.
Seoane had laid a kind of foundation stone for this. He led Bern to the championship three times before moving to the Bundesliga before this season. Wagner, after being fired from FC Schalke in September 2020 for almost a year without a club, is now continuing Seoane’s work.
“The boys went beyond their limits, that was really great cinema,” said the forty-nine year old on Tuesday evening. He and Bern only qualified for the Champions League via the play-offs, in the national championship they only had two wins in five games – and now one match.
Madness in stoppage time
It had started as the experts had expected. Cristiano Ronaldo gave the big favorites the lead from close range in the 13th minute – a bad omen. The Portuguese had shot down a steward while he was warming up. In fact, the big favorite took himself out of the game before half time.
Full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka put the ball in front of him too far and then hit his opponent with an “open sole” on the ankle: red. That was the spark for the Bernese, who had been prepared for a defensive battle before the game.
But now they were looking for their own way forward, equalized with Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu Nicolas (66th minute), continued playing forward, whipped by the enthusiastic audience at the Wankdorf stadium, and scored 2-1 seconds before the final whistle by Jordan Siebatcheu Winning goal (90th + 5). This was preceded by a capital bad pass from Jesse Lingard – but that didn’t matter for the exuberantly cheering Swiss.
Red card for United player Wan-Bissaka after a serious foul.
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Bild: Picture-Alliance
Great moments in Swiss football
The Swiss “miracle year”, so far characterized by the advance of the national team into the European Championship quarter-finals, “continues”, the look cheered. In their summer of the century, the Swiss, who usually lose every penalty shoot-out, even defeated the French in the round of 16. Even the elimination against Spain was celebrated as a triumph.
Head coach Vladimir Petkovic, to whom the nation never showed the same affection as his predecessor Ottmar Hitzfeld, submitted his resignation at the height of Helvetic football luck. He is now with Bordeaux at the bottom of the French championship. Instead, the Swiss Football Association brought the Schaffhausen coach and former national player Murat Yakin from the second division. So far, he has not been able to follow up on the success of the European Championship.
The great moments of Swiss football are spectacular and unexpected victories against overwhelming opponents between goalless draws and not always honorable defeats. Preferably against Germany. Or just France. At least they seem to fuel the hopes, which then quickly turn out to be an illusion.
The day after the defeat of Manchester, the newspapers celebrated a “magical” night. The summer of the century is extended into autumn. But a tough winter is ahead for the national team as well as for the Swiss champions. On the day of the second miracle in Bern, it became known that the developers had deleted Switzerland from the worldwide video game “FIFA 22”.
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