Brother in charge of FCB away: Lugano goali Saipi’s penalty secret

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After the bitter cup match against Lugano, unlucky ones are soon found on the Basel side. One of them is captain Fabian Frei (35), who unfortunately slipped during the penalty kicks and his attempt flew meters past the goal. The other is Dominik Schmid (25), who is also the fifth Basel shooter to score.

Lugano goalkeeper Amir Saipi (23) becomes a big hero as his parade secures Ticino’s place in the semi-finals. The fact that the 1.94 tall man dives into the right corner during the decisive penalty kick is thanks to his brother. “He was sitting behind the Lugano bench and showed me with his arm to jump to the right,” Saipi explains.

Already the great penalty hero in 2022

At the same time, the Lugano keeper is almost a little annoyed that he didn’t follow his brother’s instructions sooner. “He also showed me the angle on the other penalties. But I trusted my gut,” Saipi said. “If I had listened to him beforehand, I might even have kept one.”

Saipi has not yet distinguished himself as a penalty killer in the Super League. The former Swiss promise goalkeeper has only managed to save one of the twelve penalties in the competition so far. Things look different in the cup: in April 2022, he shone in the semi-final against Lucerne with two saved penalties and thus pushed Lugano to the cup final.

Lugano before cup final hat trick

Lugano can now achieve this feat for the third time in a row this season. Coach Mattia Croci-Torti (41) has won no fewer than 14 of the 15 cup matches since he took office two and a half years ago. The only defeat came in the final against YB (2:3) last June.

“In these games it’s just a matter of living or dying,” says Croci-Torti after the dramatic advance. His team always remained calm despite Basel’s late equalizer. “We shot very well in the penalty shootout,” said the Lugano coach. There, FCB goalkeeper Marwin Hitz (36) has to be defeated by all Ticino shooters. Possibly also because, unlike Saipi, he has to do without brotherly help from the stands.

Source : Blick