Grasshopper Club Zürich is in crisis. The traditional club is threatened with relegation to the second league and must fight for survival. The previously poor season reached a negative peak last weekend. The Grasshoppers lost 0-2 to second-tier Lausanne-Ouchy in the semifinals of the Swiss Cup. This meant that the record champion and record cup winner missed the opportunity to improve the mood in the club at least a little. Because currently, it could hardly be worse. In the league, relegation to the second league is looming again. Five matchdays before the end of the season, Grasshopper is on the relegation spot. With a seven-point deficit, premature survival is only theoretically possible. Sports director Alain Sutter tried to calm the situation after the fans rioted following the cup exit. Sutter can understand the frustration and anger of the fans, said the 58-year-old. The riots are certainly something that doesn't belong on the football pitch, Sutter said in an interview with SRF. The fact that he doesn't completely condemn the action also shows how difficult the situation is in Zurich. Sutter knows that he must not lose the emotional fans if the disaster of relegation is to be prevented. The record champion had already experienced this disaster in the 2017/18 season. For the first time in 70 years, they were relegated to the second-highest Swiss league. In 2021, they managed to get promoted again, but now they might be relegated again due to a botched squad planning by Sutter. He was very self-critical after the cup exit: We weren't good enough. If you look at the whole 90 minutes, then Lausanne was better and deserved to win. Lausanne is having a good season, we're having a very bad season, and we're not really in a positive cycle. In the end, I'm also responsible for that. Many decisions were made, whether it was the transfers in the summer, the transfers in the winter, or the coach change – that was also my decision. And I'm definitely responsible for that, Sutter explained further. Now it's just about sticking together, processing this next setback, and somehow getting through this season with a clean slate.