Europa League Lugano - EL Group Stages Thun - Joins in 3rd Q Round Luzern - 2nd Q Round vs Riteriai (Lithuania) or Kl Kalaksvik (Faroe Islands)/Tre Fiori (San Marino) Champions League Basel vs PSV Eindhoven - 2nd Q Round YB - Enter at the playoff round
Champions League - 2nd Qualifying Round Tuesday 23 July - 20.00 CET PSV Eindhoven (NED) vs FC Basel (SUI) Tuesday 30 July - 20.00 CET FC Basel (SUI) vs PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Europa League - 2nd Qualifying Round Thursday 25 July - 20.15 CET Luzern (SUI) vs Klaksvik (FAI) Thursday 1 August - 19.00 CET Klaksvik (FAI) vs Luzern (SUI)
I think Basel can get past PSV, but it's going to be extremely tough. They need to come back from Eindhoven with a goal. Luzern's second team should easily take care of the Faroe Islands team. In the current Europa League format, I don't believe a Faroe team has made it beyond the 2nd qualifying round, so either Luzern will take it seriously, or they'll be part of history as the first team to fall allowing a Faroe team through to the 3rd qualifying round.
Basel lose 3-2. They were up 1-2 in the 80', only to see two goals given up in 89' and 93'. That is too bad. Great chance to grab a hold of the tie.
Christian Schneuwly scores in the 93' to see Luzern to a 1-0 victory. Klaksvik had about 10 people in the final third of the field. 3 posts and 1 crossbar for Luzern.
Basel wins 2-1. Off to play their Austrian foes in the next round. Possible PK in the last min for PSV that was denied. Hopp Luzern!
2019-2020 UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round 7 August - Basel (SUI) vs LASK (AUT) 13 August - LASK (AUT) vs Basel (SUI) 2019-2020 UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round 8 August - Luzern (SUI) vs Espanyol (ESP) 15 August - Espanyol (ESP) vs Luzern (SUI) 8 August - Thun (SUI) vs Spartak Moskva (RUS) 15 August - Spartak Moskva (RUS) vs Thun (SUI) I like Basel to go through against LASK. If they do win, they will play one of Porto, Dynamo Kyiv, Krasnodar, or Club Brugge. If they lose, they'll skip the Europa League playoff round and go straight to the Group Stage. Luzern and Thun are given almost impossible tasks. Espanyol is a clearly stronger side that Luzern. Thun have not played up to par to start the season, and Spartak are no pushovers. If I were to predict an upset, I would say Thun shutting down the Russian side and stealing the tie. Given how Luzern played against a team from the Faroe Islands, I am giving them no chance to get past Espanyol.
Basel goes down at home 1-2. That was almost the best result of the week. Thun goes down 0-2, brings it back to 2-2, then loses 2-3. Luzern soundly defeated 0-3
Some in the Swiss press are lamenting the week in Europe as an example of the Swiss League being really poor. If we look at the matches the only one I was really surprised about was Basel. I thought they would win, but when arguably the best offensive player is sold a few days prior to the match, that does not help. The fact that Thun came back and made the Spartak match close is really nice. I was hoping at best for a draw. Luzern was a given that they would lose.
I really thought Basel would've been better against LASK, but the other two results weren't shocking at all. I don't think the Swiss League is poor. I think that's a selling league where good players are developed and moved on to bigger clubs. Look at the pipeline of players that have come through Basel who now appear to be coming through YB, as well. This is what happens when you become a selling league. Look at the Eredivisie. They still have their ups and downs, and people were saying "Oh, it ain't what it used to be," but then Ajax gets hot and makes a run to the Champions League semifinals, and PSV is usually making a deep run in the Europa League, and people suddenly start quieting down. That's all that teams like Basel and YB need is a good run in Europe and then everyone will quiet down. Anyone who watches the Super League week in and week out will tell you that the league is anything but poor. It's a hard league to win in.
I agree with all that you have said, I was just mentioned what an article said. Selling is the name of the game for smaller leagues.
Basel eliminated from the Champions League after falling to LASK 3-1 in Linz. After a scoreless first half, LASK opened the scoring in the second half and looked to have Basel finished off, but Kemal Ademi scored for the second straight match, and it looked as though it was game on. However, the Basel defense capitulated late and conceded 2 more goals in the final 5 minutes. Basel fall to LASK 5-2 on aggregate and they will join Lugano in the Europa League group stage. An extremely disappointing performance after the wonderful job done against PSV. It now looks more like Basel is only capable of competing for second place in the Super League and no longer pulling up any trees in Europe. A sad day from a Swiss football perspective.
2019-2020 UEFA Champions League Playoff Round 21 August - FC Crvena Zvezda (SRB) vs Young Boys (SUI) 27 August - Young Boys (SUI) vs FC Crvena Zvezda (SRB) Young Boys will need to play well against Red Star Belgrade in order to be able to go through to the Group Stage. Red Star needed penalties get through against FC Kobenhavn, so this is a bit of a surprise result. I think YB got a good draw here. Let's see if they can capitalize on it.
Basel will be in the 1st pot for the draw. Pot 1: Sevilla CC: 104.000 Arsenal CC: 101.000 Porto CC: 93.000 Roma CC: 81.000 Manchester United CC: 78.000 Dynamo Kyiv CC: 65.000 Beşiktaş CC: 62.000 Basel CC: 54.500 Sporting CP CC: 50.000 CSKA Moscow CC: 48.000 The should be able to get points from their group matches. Lugano will be in the fourth pot.
Thun officially eliminated from European competition after falling to Spartak Moskva 2-1, and 5-3 on aggregate. Thun opened the scoring, but Spartak showed their class in scoring the final two goals, and keeping Thun off the board. Luzern also eliminated after falling 3-0 to Espanyol and 6-0 on aggregate. Luzern never really showed anything in this tie. They started the away leg by allowing three first half goals, and they never really challenged beyond that. Only three teams remain in Europe for Switzerland: Young Boys (Champions League), Basel (Europa League), and Lugano (Europa League).