FC Zurich suffer double blow

FC Zurich's Yvan Quentin falls while tussling for the ball with Alexander Tachie-Mensah Keystone

The leaders of the Swiss football league, FC Zurich, suffered a double blow in their match against Neuchatel Xamax on Saturday - they missed an opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the table and had their star striker, Mikhail Kawelaschwili, sent off.

Georgian striker, Kawelaschwili, had given Zurich the lead in the 11th minute with his seventh goal in as many games, but Xamax equalised four minutes later.

Kawelaschwili, however, got sent off in the last minute for retaliation with the score at 1-1. His red card will mean he will miss a couple of Zurich’s next games.

Instead of Zurich opening the gap at the top of the table, Sion managed to close the gap to two points with a 3-1 home win over struggling Lucerne.

Lugano moved up into third place on Sunday with a 1-0 away win over St Gallen, who have still to find the early season form that has made them such a feared side over the past two years.

Young Boys of Bern slipped to fourth following a 3-1 drubbing in Basel. Grasshoppers Zurich, who drew 1-1 with Servette in Geneva, are behind them.

Lausanne remain rooted at the bottom of the table with only one point from the first seven fixtures of the season, after losing 3-0 at home to Aarau.

swissinfo with agencies