Quite warm weather in Switzerland, half-empty stadium in Luzern and Viktoria´s fans´superiority in numbers. This was the scene of Viktoria´s third match in the Europa League group stage when they played against FC Lugano.

Pavel Vrba changed the starting line-up for this match and sent Aleš Hruška, Marek Bakoš, Václav Pilař, Aleš Čermák and the captain Roman Hubník on the pitch. On 17 minutes the home player Carlinshos shot the first attempt on goal but the goalkeeper Aleš Hruška rebounded the ball on the corner. Two minutes later Carlinshos again woke the stadium up. His shot flew close to an upright from the outer side. On the other side Radim Řezník had an effort on goal but he failed in the scoring phase.On about 30 minutes of the game Viktoria had a free kick 5 metres behind the 18-yard box but he missed the target. Before the end of the 1st half Petržela appeared in a chance but his effort was stopped by Lugano´s defensive line. The half.time result was goalless.

The home team rushed in the 2nd half when Bottani beat Hubník. His crossed ball did not find an addressee in the 6-yard box. The coach Vrba was not satisfied with the game of his team so on 56 minutes he substituted two players. Kolář and Petržela left the pitch and were replaced by Krmenčík and Kopic. After that Viktoria settled on their opponent´s half of the pitch, however, they set the fast break and Golemič passed the ball to Bottani who scored – 1-0 for Lugano. It did not take long and Lugano´s lead was 2-0. Bottani moved the game to the other half of the field, then passed the ball to Carlinshos Junior and he scored to 2-0. Immediately after that Václav Pilař was substituted by Martin Zeman. On 76 minutes Krmenčík added Viktoria´s first goal and the fans could see two more goals until the end of the match. At first Gerndt increased to 3-1 and Bakoš reduced to final 3-2 in the extra time. It was the last to watch in this match. Viktoria lost to Lugano 3-2.

FC Lugano - FC Viktoria Plzeň 3:2 (0:0)

3rd round, Thu 19th Oct 2017, 19:00, Luzern Arena

Goals: 63. Bottani, 69. Carlinhos Junior, 88. Gerndt – 75. Krmenčík, 90. Bakoš, YC:Piccinocchi, Daprelà – Bakoš, Zeman, Referees: Jovanović – Stojković, Mihajlović (all Serbia).

Lugano: Da Costa (C) – Mihajlovic, Rouiller, Golemic, Daprelà – Piccinocchi, Ledesma, Mariani – Črnigoj (85. Padalino), Carlinhos Junior (73. Sabbatini), Bottani (70. Gerndt).

Plzeň: Hruška – Řezník, Hubník (C), Hájek, Havel – Čermák, Hrošovský – Petržela (56. Kopic), Kolář (56. Krmenčík), Pilař (70. Zeman) – Bakoš.