Sion maintain perfect Swiss Cup tradition

FC Sion made it 12 victories in as many Swiss Cup final outings with a 2-0 triumph over Neuchâtel Xamax FC at Basel's St. Jakob-Park.

Headers from Giovanni Sio and Vilmos Vanczák in the first six minutes settled the ties and extended Sion's world-best perfect record in cup finals. They will enter in the UEFA Europa League in the play-off round next season.

If playmaker Goran Obradović had revealed a sense of apprehension in the Sion camp by saying "no one wants to be part of the team that loses the first final for this club", it soon dissipated as Sio and Vanczák headed Laurent Roussey's charges into a two-goal lead inside six minutes.

"We were still asleep then," rued Xamax coach Bernard Challandes, whose team avoided relegation on the final day of the Super League season in midweek with a goalless draw against today's opponents. Such were Xamax's struggles in attack, it took the five-time cup runners-up until the 84th minute to fashion their first chance, Geoffrey Tréand hitting the post.

Roussey, whose side were backed by 25,000 fans in a crowd of 37,500, said: "Maybe we should have scored a third, but I am very happy with my team. The pressure was huge, everyone expected us to win. It's always tough in such a situation but we stood tall."