Shaqiri conjures up magic again and leads FC Basel to a 4-1 win against YB – because Edimilson Fernandes loses his nerve

This football match may not have been a truly magnificent moment, but it was certainly a gala performance. At least towards the end. FC Basel launched attack after attack on Young Boys' goal, Kevin Carlos scored to make it 3-1, and Metinho added a stunning goal to make it 4-1.

In the end, FCB's victory on Wednesday evening was nothing less than a statement victory. A 4-1 victory against the other heavyweight in Swiss football, in front of 27,000 euphoric fans in their home stadium, St. Jakob-Park. And an offensive spectacle, just like the new FCB coach Ludovic Magnin has so often delivered with Lausanne-Sport until recently .

Basel's gala performance only came about because they were likely favored in the decisive moment after the hour mark: Leo Leroy crosses into the penalty area, where Xherdan Shaqiri backheels the ball into the hand of Edimilson Fernandes. The FCB players protest, referee Luca Cibelli watches the scene on the monitor, and awards a penalty to Basel.

But that's not all, Fernandes has his hand in the game again. When Marvin Keller blocks the ball before the penalty, Basel left-back Dominik Schmid charges at the YB goalie. A clash ensues. In the thick of it: Fernandes punches Schmid in the face – and is sent off. Shaqiri, however, remains cool and scores confidently from eleven meters to make it 2-1. With a man down, Young Boys are unable to respond to the deficit. And so, it's ultimately them who get the slap in the face in Basel.

But Basel's decisive penalty goal appears to have a flaw. TV images suggest that Shaqiri was offside before he heeled Leroy's cross. VAR intervened, though. It saw Fernandes' handball, but not Shaqiri's position. YB coach Giorgio Contini said after the match: "It's completely inexplicable how VAR couldn't see that in the age of the calibrated line. The situation was decisive, and after that, we lost our balance."

Contini has just as little sympathy for Fernandes, the sent-off offender: "He's hurting himself, he's hurting the team. We need to address this internally." It sounds like some uncomfortable conversations are about to happen. YB signed the Swiss international to bring stability to the midfield as a leader. But with his sending off in Basel, Fernandes is at most stabilizing the opponent. He will be missing from Young Boys' upcoming league games.

Basel coach Ludovic Magnin, however, disagrees with Contini's reduction of the match to this one incident. He says: "Yes, it was a wrong decision. But we were clearly the better team. My players delivered an incredible performance in an incredible stadium."

After two consecutive home wins, the French-speaking Swiss have definitely arrived in Basel . Under Magnin, the team presses high and plays even more attackingly than last season. This is attractive for the fans, but also carries risks, because in Magnin's system, the defenders advance far forward, thus offering the opponents deep passes. Before Bern went 1-0 up, a long, precise ball – from Fernandes – was enough to break the FCB defense. Nicolas Vouilloz, just as error-prone in the FCB central defense as Jonas Adjetey, was pushed away by Darian Males, and the former Basel player fired a powerful shot from a tight angle (17').

The intense duel against YB, however, also highlights something else: how heavily FCB currently relies on its exceptional talent. Almost every attacking move goes through captain Xherdan Shaqiri . As he did against St. Gallen and GC, who had man-marked him, the 33-year-old initially threw his hands away several times against Young Boys. But then he was able to develop more and more – because YB gave him space. Shaqiri consistently converted this into tangible results: In the 39th minute, he scored his 15th goal of the year with his weaker right foot. After the break, he scored his 16th goal.

And then there's the dependence on winger Filip Otele. If the 26-year-old continues to dribble past his opponents as dizzyingly as Jaouen Hadjam, Zachary Athekame, and Saidy Janko in the coming Super League matches, he'll likely leave FC Basel soon – and bring the club a few million. With that money, FCB could sign solid central defenders. Or accurate strikers. Because Shaqiri and Otele won't always be able to do it alone.

After the psychologically valuable victory against YB, Basel should approach their next challenges with great confidence: On Sunday, they travel to Ticino to face recently inferior FC Lugano, followed the following Friday by a match against Biel in the first round of the Swiss Cup. After that, the next highlight awaits at St. Jakob-Park: On August 20, FCB will play the first leg of the Champions League play-off against Malmö or FC Copenhagen. The return leg follows one week later in the north.

After an eight-year absence, FC Basel is finally looking to experience some great moments in the Champions League again. Qualifying will require two more stellar performances.