fc basel 1893 may be without a point in group e but their visit to as roma has got both coaches harking back to the swiss side's 2-0 defeat of the giallorossi last year.
claudio ranieri, roma coach
basel are a good side who came close to beating bayern in the previous game. but we know them well too because we lost against them last season in the uefa europa league. so i want to see roma focused and organised like when they defeated genoa. we know both their strengths and their weak points so we will go out there to win.
mirko vučinić, jérémy menez and daniele de rossi have not recovered from their injuries and are not even in the squad. i hope to have them back for the following game but they cannot even make it to the bench this time around. david pizarro has not trained regularly recently but i think i will be able to use him even if he is not in peak physical condition. matteo brighi should replace de rossi in midfield. he is an example to all his team-mates because he never fails to give 100% whenever he is called to play.
thorsten fink, basel coach
i'm very happy to be here in rome, again. last year both teams were in the uefa europa league but this season we are opponents in the uefa champions league: this means we had a great season and both have to be proud of this. i think that both lineups are similar to last season, when we beat roma. we know this is our chance to get a second victory and all the basel players know this. we have no fear about this match.
we'll have to be calm, we'll have to be strong and physical and to find the net, why not, at the end of it. have i come here to win? for sure. otherwise, if i came here to get a draw, probably we would lose. our aim, in fact, is to change the group standings, because basel want to go forward in the champions league, even if we know that going into the europa league wouldn't be such a bad result.
1. fc bayern münchen...3...3...0...0...7...3...4...9 2. fc basel 1893...3...1...0...2...5...5...0...3 3. cfr 1907 cluj...3...1...0...2...5...6...-1...3 4. as roma...3...1...0...2...3...6...-3...3
superb first-half goals from alexander frei and samuel inkoom plus another in added time from cabral gave basel their first group stage win since 2003.
goals by alexander frei, samuel inkoom and cabral earned fc basel 1893 a memorable away victory against as roma and their first group e points.
although marco borriello cancelled out frei's opener with a well-taken goal on 21 minutes and rodrigo taddei struck the woodwork after the break, the visitors proved more clinical in front of goal. inkoom's powerful drive kept basel's noses in front until substitute cabral made sure of his side's first uefa champions league win since 2003.
the visitors took the lead on 12 minutes courtesy of a fine team move that began deep in their own half. gilles yapi spread the play to xherdan shaqiri and he picked out marco streller from the right, with the switzerland striker's cushioned header then met beautifully by frei, who fired in from 14 metres.
the hosts had hitherto enjoyed most of the possession, borriello firing a warning shot over, and the striker did not have long to wait for his next chance as francesco totti showed majestic skill and vision to play him through with a first-time pass from deep within his own half. borriello kept his composure to draw franco costanzo out and clipped the ball adroitly into the net.
roma were re-energised and taddei continued his good work down the right, supported by the free-running marco cassetti. totti was then twice unfortunate not to score his first of the season: firstly when, on 37 minutes, he beat yapi, cut inside and shot just wide of the far post with his left foot. just after the restart, another venomous shot with the outside of his boot swerved narrowly off target.
by then, however, the giallorossi were behind again, basel having reclaimed the lead on 44 minutes via another fantastic strike. inkoom was too quick for simone perrotta, and after latching onto shaqiri's clever angled pass he whizzed an unstoppable low effort past the helpless bogdan lobonţ.
roma stepped up the tempo, keeping the visitors pegged back in their own half as they strove for an equaliser. taddei's fizzing effort came back off a post and, in their next attack, neither borriello nor nicolás burdisso could quite scramble totti's header across goal over the line.
both sides also missed presentable headed opportunities, benjamin huggel nodding centimetres wide and roma duo matteo brighi and philippe mexès powering over. with a minute to go, totti's driven free-kick was well saved by costanzo, but the coup de grâce was left to cabral, who sneaked though to score at the end and take his side level on points with roma and cfr 1907 cluj.
geçen yıl avrupa ligi e grubu ilk maçında basel isviçre'de roma'yı 2-0 yenmesi büyük bir süpriz olarak adlandırılmıştı. ikinci maçta roma evinde basel'i ancak 2-1 yenmişti.
bu sefer basel roma'yı italya'da yenmeyi başardı ve geçen yılın süpriz olmadığını gösterdi.
basel ile roma arasında 2 yıldır süren bu çekişme akıllara 2 yıldır barcelona'ya yenilmeyen rubin kazan'ı getiriyor...
yardımcı hakemler: nikolai golubev (rus), anton averianov (rus)
4. hakem: maksim layushkin (rus)
çizgi hakemleri: sergey karasev (rus), vladimir pettay (rus)
roma: bogdan lobonţ (gk), philippe mexès, david pizarro, francesco totti (c), rodrigo taddei, john arne riise (dk. 60 paolo castellini), simone perrotta (dk. 74 júlio baptista), marco borriello, nicolás burdisso, matteo brighi, marco cassetti
