YB loses 2-0. They will most likley be in Pot 2, but could end up in Pot 1 for the Europa League. If they had been in the CL they would have been in Pot 4. Basel is in pot 3, if they get Celtic from pot 4, they could win a match or two. I do not see them defeating teams from pot 1 or pot 2.
Pot 1: Real Madrid (ESP, holders), Bayern München (GER), Juventus (ITA) Benfica (POR), Chelsea (ENG), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), Monaco (FRA), Spartak Moskva (RUS) Pot 2: Barcelona (ESP), Atlético Madrid (ESP), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Borussia Dortmund (GER), Sevilla (ESP), Manchester City (ENG), Porto (POR), Manchester United (ENG) Pot 3: Napoli (ITA), Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Basel (SUI), Olympiacos (GRE), Anderlecht (BEL), Liverpool (ENG), Roma (ITA), Beşiktaş (TUR) Pot 4: Celtic (SCO), CSKA Moskva (RUS), Sporting CP (POR), APOEL (CYP), Feyenoord (NED), Maribor (SVN), Qarabağ (AZE), RB Leipzig (GER)
The last time Man U and CSKA Moscow were in the same group, both of them were eliminated, with Wolfsburg and PSV Eindhoven advancing. Man U is off to a great start in England.
Europa League Draw Group B: Dynamo Kiev, Young Boys, Partizan Belgrade, Skenderbeu Group G: Viktoria Plzen, Steau Bucharest, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Lugano. Both have interesting groups, with YB getting Kyiv who they eliminated in the 3rd CL Qualifying Round.
Basel go down in Manchester 3-0. Mohamed Elyounouss might have earned a PK, but Basel goal was to keep it 0-0 and score on the counter. The problem is that a team that loses to LS at home 1-2 is not going to do well at Old Trafford. Here is hoping that YB and Lugano can do well this week. The coefficient is really going to take a hit.
With CSKA beating Benfica, it's looking likely that Basel will finish bottom of the group. Between their poor performances and inability to score, I don't see them winning a single game in this group. I know that Champions League isn't a priority for this club, but going deep in Europa League should be, and not finishing top 3 for the second year in a row is a real killer for Swiss football. I think we'll see YB get through the groups. I'm curious to see what Lugano can do. They have a puncher's chance of getting out of the groups if teams like Plzen and Steaua Bucharest don't take the competition seriously. I'm looking forward to their matches.
YB 1-1 at the half. They are the better team and have had lots of good chances. Partizan flops a lot. The referee actually gave a yellow for simulation to one of their players.
Young Boys ended 1-1, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva beat Lugano 2-1. Switzerland is 15th, with Croatia and Denmark within 0.750 behind Switzerland. Switzerland has 1.500 so far, and the four countries below them (Croatia, Denmark, Israel, and Cyprus) all have at least 2.5 times as many points.
With the way they're revamping the Champions League next year, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Super League would lose a Champions League place. This sucks because now we'll still only have 3 Europa League places, so the 4th place team will only get in if someone in the top 3 wins the Swiss Cup. Seems like it's going to get worse before it gets better for Swiss clubs.
Lugano up 2-0 with 20 min to play. Junior had a great 2nd goal. I will try and find it, it was a full volley. As the announcers were saying Bellimisso!
Basel with a big chance to secure playing in either the CL or Europa League knockout rounds with a home match vs CSKA Moscow tonight. YB is home to Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday and Lugano is at Viktoria Plzen as well.
Basel goes down 1-2 to CSKA Moscow. They are now tied on points, but Basel has a +3 GD while CSKA has a -3. Benfica has 0 points and a -9 GD. Basel vs Benfica on 22 November This could effectively put Basel into the knockout round. Ideally Man U will defeat CSKA and win the group. That coupled with a Basel win would enable Basel to get quite a bit ahead on GD. If both Basel and CSKA lose Basel still would have the upper hand. Benfica needs to score a ton of goals, and have Basel and CSKA concede a ton.
YB and Lugano loose. YB had so many chances in the match. A win over Kyiv would have made qualification so much more manageable.
The tiebreaker is head-to-head, not goal differential, and Basel has the head-to-head goal differential tiebreaker over CSKA Moscow. The head-to-head tiebreaker is good for Basel but bad for Lugano, who trails Viktoria Plzen by 3 points and would lose a tiebreaker. In order to stay alive, Lugano must win hosting Hapoel Be'er Sheva and have Viktoria Plzen not win hosting FCSB. If Lugano draws and Viktoria Plzen loses, Lugano would be eliminated because they would be able to pass Viktoria Plzen or Hapoel Be'er Sheva on Matchday 6 but not both of them because they play each other.
Lugano with another win and YB with the loss. Both are eliminated, but Lugano has done much better than I anticipated, YB has not. I will admit that I was very wrong about Basel, they have done quite well.