FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler was meticulous in preparing his team to face FC Lugano, including several video analyses. He went into the friendly without several players, however. New signing Karol Mets missed out, along with Nikola Vasilj, David Nemeth, Etienne Amenyido, Luca Zander and Niklas Jessen. The Estonia centre-back is working individually on his match fitness after resuming training with FC Zurich later than his new teammates, and thus watched the game from the sidelines. Maurides Roque Junior, who picked up a knock in training yesterday, was passed fit to play and made his first appearance in the FCSP jersey in the second half.

The game kicked off in ideal conditions, with plenty of sunshine and the thermometer showing 17°C. And after Milton Valenzuela had missed an early opportunity for Lugano in the 4th minute, the Boys in Brown struck in clinical fashion at the other end following a free-kick, Adam Dźwigała finding the bottom left corner from just inside the box to open the scoring on 10 minutes. Almost immediately, David Otto was initially denied by Lugano keeper Sebastian Osigwe after the Boys in Brown had won possession in the opposition half. The striker then saw a second effort from an acute angle cleared off the line. Lukas Daschner was following up, however, and converted the rebound from five metres to make it 2-0 in the 11th minute.

After Otto had had a header saved by Osigwe and Dźwigała had put the rebound narrowly wide, the Hürzeler XI were awarded a penalty when Daschner was fouled in the box. Marcel Hartel took the spot-kick and saw it parried by Osigwe, but Otto was first to the loose ball and smashed it into the back of the net to make it 3-0 with 20 minutes gone.

The Boys in Brown were running rampant by this point and broke quickly when Manolis Saliakas won the ball in his own half. Otto unleashed Connor Metcalfe and he crossed for Daschner to add a fourth from eight metres with just 24 minutes gone. Sascha Burchert then denied Zan Celar in a one-on-one before the first five-minute break after 30 minutes of play.

The Swiss outfit stepped up a gear after the interval and were far meaner at the back. The best opportunity for the Boys in Brown fell to Afeez Aremu in the 40th minute, but his long-range effort flew well off target. At the other end, Mahmoud Mohamad Belhadj had a great chance to make it 4-1 two minutes later, but was first denied by a fine save from Burchert and then by a goalline clearance from Eric Smith.

Lugano upped the pressure in attack and broke their duck shortly afterwards when Allan Arigoni broke clear down the right and knocked a low ball into the box. His pass found Ignacio Aliseda at the far post and he left Burchert no chance with a powerful low drive from eight metres. More was to come, and when a free-kick was dispatched into the danger area, Arigoni was a step ahead of Lars Ritzka to score from six metres to make it 4-2 after 48 minutes.

The Boys in Brown needed little time to restore their three-goal advantage, however. Hartel hit a corner long to Daschner, who squared it for Dźwigała to net from seven metres on 52. That was to prove the last of the scoring in a highly eventful first period.

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler had every reason to be satisfied with the first 60 minutes.

Fabian Hürzeler fielded almost an entirely new team for the second half, with goalkeeper Sascha Burchert the only player to continue. Lugano also rang the changes, but the goals kept coming and the Boys in Brown soon added a sixth. A Leart Paqarada cross was knocked back into the middle by Jannes Wieckhoff at the far post and the ball eventually found its way to Johannes Eggestein via Maurides and Jackson Irvine, and he slotted into the bottom left corner from seven metres to make it 6-2 on 68. The Hürzeler XI had more of the play and carved out the next chance ten minutes later when Irvine and Paqarada combined to pick out Elias Saad on the left side of the penalty area, but he fired well over. Saad had another opportunity to add a seventh when Irvine pressed to win possession. His effort from 13 metres flew narrowly the wrong side of left-hand angle.

The Boys in Brown continued to dominate after the final drinks break but were made to wait for a seventh goal to arrive. Saad missed with a header from a Paqarada cross on 94 before Paqarada headed a Wieckhoff cross well over two minutes later. Lugano plugged away in an attempt to make the result more respectable but were unable to find a way through the FCSP rearguard. At the other end, Paqarada failed to beat Serif Berbić from a tight angle from an Igor Matanović cross on 107. Then, on the stroke of full-time, Franz Roggow concluded the scoring, hammering the ball into the top-left corner from just outside the area.

FC St. Pauli

1st half: Burchert - Dźwigała, Smith, Beifus - Saliakas, Aremu, Hartel, Ritzka - Metcalfe, Daschner - Otto

2nd half: Burchert (Ahlers 91') - Appe, Fazliji, Medić (Roggow 91') - Wieckhoff, Irvine (Medić 105'), Boukhalfa, Paqarada - Eggestein, Saad - Maurides (Matanović 91')

Head coach: Fabian Hürzeler

FC Lugano

1st half: Osigwe - Daprela, Mai, Arigoni, Valenzuela, Sabbatini, Belhadj, Steffen, Bottani, Aliseda, Celar

2nd half: Berbić - Mai (Hajrizi 79'), Valenzuela (Maccoppi 79'), Bislimi, Arigoni, Sabbatini (Amoura 79'), Belhadj (Espinoza 79'), Macek, Doumbia, Celar (Angstmann 79'), Babić

Head Coach: Mattia Croci-Torti

Goals: 1-0 Dźwigała (10'), 2-0 Daschner (11'), 3-0 Otto (20'), 4-0 Daschner (24'), 4-1 Aliseda (42'), 4-2 Arigoni (48'), 5-2 Dźwigała (52'), 6-2 Eggestein (69'), 7-2 Roggow (119')

Yellow cards: Aremu, Smith - Espinoza, Hajrizi

Photos: FC St. Pauli