Lugano had a rather turbulent 2017/18 season, but entered the new campaign with plenty of optimism after improving under Guillermo Abascal in the late stages of the previous campaign.
The young Spanish manager is dedicated to playing good football and the Ticiners kept playing some eye-catching stuff early in the season. However, what they lacked were street smarts and Abascal was relieved of his duties nine games into the season, with Lugano managing only two wins in those matches.
His replacement was former Lausanne boss Fabio Celestini who openly claimed that it would take until after the winter break for the players to become able of really implementing his ideas.
His words proved to have been prophetic, as the Ticiners kept looking mediocre in the remainder of the autumn season, but had a superb second half of the campaign, going on their longest unbeaten run of the 21st century and ending up finishing third.
Such a finish means that they will play in the group stage of the Europa League for the second time in three years and they could have hardly hoped for more than they got out of the season.
Celestini has gotten them to play a brand of football that is both pleasing on the eye and efficient and they will enter the next season with a lot of optimism.
