sommer stop saves basel from elimination published: wednesday 8 august 2012, 22.30cet fc basel 1893 1-1 molde fk (agg: 2-1) basel's yann sommer kept his side in the competition with an added-time penalty save from magne hoseth.
by ben gladwell from st. jakob-park
yann sommer secured fc basel 1893's place in the uefa champions league play-offs at molde fk's expense by saving an added-time penalty from magne hoseth.
with molde trailing 1-0 from the first leg, jo inge berget levelled the aggregate score in the 32nd minute. david degen restored the swiss club's overall lead with a quarter of an hour remaining, but in a late twist hoseth was denied by sommer when presented with the chance to fire ole gunnar solskjær's side into friday's draw.
a well-organised molde penned basel back in the early stages as they made their intentions clear. they soon started to create chances, with magnus eikrem and berget exchanging passes to put mattias moström in the clear, but sommer won the duel.
in another slick move, moström was sent through on goal by berget, only to place his shot wide of the far post. molde's superiority paid dividends when magne simonsen's shot was parried by sommer to berget, who slotted in the rebound.
valentin stocker missed basel's first chance of the second half, side-footing degen's cross off target. degen had a shot blocked in the 63rd minute before shooting wide soon after as basel finally found a higher gear. marcelo díaz was the next to miss for the home side, while marco streller headed over the crossbar as the game entered the final 20 minutes.
having spent much of the first period in their opponents' half, molde were suddenly happy to sit back. it was a dangerous tactic and basel got the goal they were looking for when streller touched the ball down for degen.
it was not over, though, as gastón sauro committed a foul inside the penalty area in the second minute of added time. sommer guessed correctly, though, diving to his right to save from hoseth and condemn solskjær's charges to life in the uefa europa league.
