Matchday 27 review

FC Differdange gave up two points to F91 Dudelange in the title chase, as the gap between the teams has now reduced to seven points, three games from the end. This means that the leaders still require a win (or two draws) in their remaining fixtures to officially receive the award and confirm their title.

FCD’s first-ever BGL Ligue trophy has been in the making for a long while, as they sprung into top spot in the early autumn and never really looked back. Their only league defeat so far (against Jeunesse Esch) threw a spanner in the works for a brief period of time, but their eventual victory never really looked in doubt.

Now, a 2-2 draw against Victoria Rosport will keep all fans in Differdange on their toes for a little bit longer. It also means they might have to celebrate this landmark occasion away from home – at arch-rivals Progrès Niederkorn’s stadium, to be precise!

The fact the Wasps have not lost at any game of football in their own ground for over a year now will only provide some extra spice – and motivation – for both sides. As if the stakes were not high enough already.

Schifflange and Fola can start to worry

This was the gameweek that focused fully on the bottom half of the table, due to the draw pitting all of the bottom six to face each other.

11^th-placed Wiltz 71 were looking to ensure safety at the expense of UN Käerjéng (12^th), Mondercange (13) hosted Fola Esch (16), while the two newest teams in the league met in Mersch, where Schifflange (15) faced hosts Marisca (14).

Despite the league rankings giving a vague insight into what each team might expect to achieve, it was incredibly hard to predict just how the afternoon would unfold, largely given the disastrous form all clubs have found themselves in lately.

Two of them continued their downwards spiral, while the luckier ones – Mondercange and Marisca – gained a momentary breathing space. FCM’s 2-1 win against Fola was achieved through two quick attacks and very avoidable goals on the Escher side, who can rue their missed chances and their ineffectiveness when playing against 10 men.

Stefano Bensi’s side are now looking like the Fola of the autumn, who struggled to get a hold on any of their opponents, being left behind by the rest of the pack before a powerful comeback operation in the spring that gave the supporters of the oldest football club in Luxembourg all the hope they needed about the rest of the season.

Four points from the relegation play-off places, they are joined at the bottom by Schifflange ’95, who are only positioned above Fola on goal difference. Their season paints a story opposite to Fola’s: an impressive start to 2023/24, a few surprise wins and Player of the Month-worthy displays from Téo Herr turned into disappointment, their waterlogged pitches preventing them from playing the way they would prefer to, and eventually sending the team into muddy waters in more ways than one.

Marisca Mersch, missing key attacker Joel Rodrigues da Cruz (injury) and first-choice goalkeeper Stéphane Moussima (suspension), beat Schifflange with ease despite the rotated line-up. Attacker Benjamin Bresch was at his talismanic best, scoring both goals of the game to single-handedly give his team some advantage over the direct relegation zone.

His first goal was one of his best all season (and he has scored quite a few): a mesmerising solo run off the left wing ended with a desperate Hearvin Djétou making a last-ditch sliding tackle into the void, and watching Bresch calmly pull the ball back one last time before surprising goalkeeper Tony Conti with his shot choice, firing into the bottom right corner masterfully.

With their most recent three points, Marisca are now only two behind the battle for the last survival spot. It is currently reserved by Käerjéng after their draw in the Ardennes ensured they would stay level on points with Mondercange, on 28 each.

Meanwhile, both Schifflange and Fola Esch have a lot of ground to make up – two wins in three games seems like the bare minimum required for an escape. Judging by their respective forms (three points in their last 10 outings combined), don’t make hefty bets on either of them pulling it off. Not yet, please, anyway.

Top scorer race heating up

Differdange’s Jorginho Monteiro has truly arrived in Luxembourg with a bang. He is leading the scoring charts in his first year, with his 23 goals (8 of them penalties) in 25 appearances going a long way towards FCD’s historic title win.

In an interview with Le Quotidien, chairman Rémy Manso recalled telling the Portuguese that he should introduce himself as a former second-division player in his homeland, as opposed to admitting that he had indeed only featured at regional level before.

Whichever way he chose, it definitely worked wonders to his confidence: he has been as efficient as new arrivals come, with sweeping consistency to accompany his fine returns. However, his place on the throne for 2024 is not yet guaranteed: there are three other contenders for the accolade who will do everything to ruffle Jorginho’s feathers in the closing weeks.

The aforementioned Bresch has taken his tally to 20 goals (10 penalties) on Sunday, which will be a mightily impressive feat in a newly-promoted side regardless of the final outcome. Samir Hadji (Dudelange) is not behind either, on 18 goals. He has scored 159 times since first arriving in the BGL Ligue, which also makes him one of the most prolific marksmen in Luxembourgish history. The former Fola striker is the main weapon in F91’s attack and has been enjoying a decent form lately.

Dominik Stolz of Swift Hesperange has regularly set the bar in his previous seasons at a league level, and while his output has slightly dropped in 2023/24, he still has 17 goals (all of them non-penalty!) in 25 matches. Six goals in three games looks a long shot (or, more literally speaking, a lot of shots), but if we have learnt one thing about the German in recent years, it was to never doubt his abilities to stand out from the pack.

If Jorginho stays quiet for his last three games (against Niederkorn, Wiltz and Fola – sounds entirely possible), the door is ajar for the other three competitors to step up and find another gear.

Dudelange’s draw seems the hardest, with trips to Rosport and Wiltz with a home game against Niederkorn sandwiched in-between, which puts Hadji firmly out of contention this time around. Bresch and Stolz, though, both have some winnable fixtures (and they’ll also face off personally next weekend), where they could apply some pressure on Jorginho.

Bresch has already all but confirmed his place as the most prolific Luxembourger this season, as he is followed on that list by Differdange’s Artur Abreu (8 goals) and F91’s Edis Agović (7 goals).

In terms of expected goals (xG - defined by Wyscout as a predictive model used to assess the likelihood of scoring for every shot in the game), Bresch comes out on top for the season, tallying 17.78 expected goals so far. This means that his overperformance and superior technical quality has amounted to two extra goals compared to an average striker’s performance from the shooting positions he gets in.

Jorginho’s overperformance is even more staggering, outscoring his xG total of 16.77 by a little over six goals already. Samir Hadji (12.72), Walid Jarmouni (12.31) and Dominik Stolz (9.48) round off the top five – only the order differs from the actual scoring charts. As we can see from the above, Jarmouni has been having a solid season performing on par with expectations – although it seems to be unsatisfactory when compared to so all the clinical consistent overperformers he has to compete with.

The next Luxembourgish football action comes on Thursday night, when Swift Hesperange are playing Progrès Niederkorn in the domestic cup final, starting at 19:30. League action will resume next Sunday (12 May).

As always, the games’ live commentaries, highlights and full video footage are all available on RTL.lu’s Live Arena hub.