Oops: Here are the standings after 4 rounds: Europa League Group B APOEL 9 Olympiacos 7 YB 4 Astana 2 YB has to win tomorrow at Olympiacos in order to have a chance on the last match day. Group L Osmalispor 7 Villarreal 5 FCZ 5 Steaua 3 FCZ needs to get something from a Spanish club, something that Basel has difficulty with. Champions League Group A Arsenal 10 PSG 10 Basel 1 Ludogorets 1 Basel has to win today in Bulgaria. Neither team has earned any points from other matches except for match-day 1 vs each other. With 1st place up for grabs in Matchday 6, both Arsenal should play strong squads in that one. Basel starts in about 1:30 min. Hopp Basel.
HOPP BASEL!! Make sure you can get into the Europa League knockouts. HOPP YB and FCZ!! Both teams have a tall task ahead of them.
0-0 they will need a great match in the last one. Basel was the better team, but they could not find a goal. They also lacked some of the push they needed. I wonder if there will be players that leave in the winter as they have such a lead.
Basel was never getting out of that group, but failing to make the Europa League should be unacceptable. It's great that you can win the league by 20 points every year, but Celtic and Dinamo Zagreb do that, too. It's not actually impressive any longer. It just makes you the tallest midget and makes your league look worse than it might actually be. I hope that 6-0 beatdown they put on Vaduz was worth it on Saturday because it certainly didn't help them today.
FCZ plays well in the 2nd half and has a match 1-1 against Villareal. They scored in the 93', but it was correctly ruled off-side. The group has one team at 7 points, the rest with 6 points. YB is up now.
That FCZ game had a fun second half. I was really surprised that Villareal sat back like they did and let FCZ control the play. They need a win in Turkey in two weeks, otherwise they're out.
YB with the draw in Greece. Horaru with the goal. They must win vs Astana at home, and APOEL must win vs Olympiacos as well. YB also sits 3 goals behind on GD, so there is work to do. Three draws. Hmm.
OK the situation is complicated for Basel. Tiebreaker rules higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question; if, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. 1. If Basel wins and Ludogrets loses, Basel advances to Europa League. 2. If Basel wins and Ludogrets draws, Basel advances to Europa League. 3. If Basel wins and Ludgorets wins, Basel advances to Europa League due to #2, Basel currently sits at -6 while Ludgorets sits at -9. 4. If Basel draws and Ludogrets loses, Basel advances to Europa League. 5. If Basel draws and Ludgorets draws, Basel advances to Europa League. 6. If Basel draws and Ludgorets wins, Ludgorets advances to Europa League. 7. If Basel loses and Ludgorets loses, #2 will come into question. If Basel looses and Ludgorets loses and the 3 goal differential is not overcome, Basel advances to Europa League. 8. If Basel loses and Ludgorets loses, #2 will come into question. If Basel loses and Ludgorets loses and the 3 goal differential is overcome, Ludgorets advances to Europa League. 9. If Basel loses and Ludgorets draws, Ludgorets advances to the Europa League. 10. If Basel loses and Ludgorets wins, Ludgorets advances to the Europa League. I may be wrong here, but this is how I see it. Basically, if Basel wants anything to play for in the spring, they need to get something today from the match with Arsenal.
Rep for the effort alone. As of now, Basel is in last place despite the better goal differential because Ludorgorets has the away goal from those two draws. Whatever Ludogorets does, Basel has to do better. If Ludogorets loses, Basel must at least draw. If Ludogorets draws, Basel must win. At the end of the day, Basel is probably going out on that cheap goal they gave up in the first game of the group stage. It just ain't right.
Thanks. I agree that it was a cheap goal, but they have played so poorly in the group stages this year. Yes Arsenal and PSG are Arsenal and PSG. But they have showed very little.
Basel did not sell out the match tonight, also there is talk that Urs Fischer might be let go if they do not advance.
Basel losing to Arsenal isn't embarrassing. What's embarrassing is drawing at home to a lesser team than them in match day 1.
Now 1-4, Basel finally scores. Ludogrets winning in Paris. What a sad European campaign for Basel. The Swiss coefficient is 21st right now behind such powers at Cyprus and Azerbaijan.
YB vs Astana today. They are essentially playing for pride. My money is on YB at home and playing well. FCZ @ Osmanlispor. The only way they qualify is with a win.
For the first time since 2009, no Swiss team will be taking part in the knockout stages of European competition. A very bad year for Swiss football in Europe.
FCZ played pretty well, they had a great chance early in the 1st half off a set piece. Very much a down year. At least YB can still end the run with a victory.