FC ST. Gallen vs Servette FC 2-1

FC St. Gallen beat Servette FC 2-1 at Kybunpark after taking a two-goal lead and then holding off a late reply. Carlo Boukhalfa and Lukas Görtler put the home side in control before Jesper Karlsson pulled one back in the 82nd minute.

Boukhalfa opened the scoring in the 6th minute, steering home Chima Okoroji’s assist for 1-0. The score stayed there until half-time.

FC St. Gallen made two changes on 59 minutes, sending on Joel Ruiz for Mostafa Heydari and Betim Fazliji for Lukas Daschner. Görtler’s penalty in the 65th minute made it 2-0. Servette FC then made two changes on 69 minutes, with Lilian Njoh replacing Thomas Lopes and Samuel Mráz coming on for Tiemoko Ouattara, before Jesper Karlsson struck in the 82nd minute from Marco Burch’s assist to reduce the gap to 2-1. FC St. Gallen also brought on Nevio Scherrer for Boukhalfa on 75 minutes and Colin Noah Kleine-Bekel for Görtler on 89 minutes as they saw out the result.

The numbers were mixed, with Servette FC having 62% of the ball and 518 passes to FC St. Gallen’s 38% and 315, but the hosts had more shots, 16 to 11, more shots on target, 6 to 5, and a higher xG at 1.85 to 0.82. Servette FC won more corners, 4 to 2, while FC St. Gallen had 15 fouls to 21 and 3 offsides to 1. The saves count finished at 4 for FC St. Gallen and 3 for Servette FC.

Servette FC’s Houboulang Mendes and Marco Burch were both booked in the 18th minute, while FC St. Gallen’s Betim Fazliji was cautioned on 69 minutes. There were no red cards.