When FC Basel beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge back in September they added victory over the former European Champions to quite an impressive growing list of conquests including Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Tottenham. This string of notable wins is all within the last few seasons. Basel in that same time frame has continued to dominate domestically, winning the Swiss title 4 times consecutively since 2009. All this from a team that resides in the 3rd largest city in Switzerland with a population of under 200,000 people and the country as a whole has less than the population of Greater London. The Swiss League is not a big money league and competition from traditional regions such as Zurich (Grasshoppers and FCZ), Bern (Young Boys) and St Gallon, has been weak in recent times so how do FC Basel manage to compete in the Champions League?
In the same way that Glasgow Celtic are able to achieve victories against Barcelona at home, most of Basel's victories are on home soil with the notable exception of Chelsea away. They have also been thought of as whipping boys in years gone by and this has led some teams to dramatically underestimate them. They are an extremely well organized team, hardworking, disciplined in defense and midfield and despite any real stars in attack can take their chances through seasoned campaigners such as Marco Streller. The addition of one or two new faces each year always seems to improve the team despite a regular turnover in management. Murat Yakin is now at the helm and he looks like he has the right blend of calmness and steel that Basel fans respect. His results domestically and within the CL are also ticking the right boxes. They can still qualify from the group stage and need a win tonight to do so. FCB will certainly not fear Chelsea and it will be interesting to see how Mourinho sets out his Chelsea side to revenge their home defeat.
Basel have loyal and passionate fans and will fill the St Jacobs Park Stadium so it should be a great atmosphere and a very tough match. Chelsea have the quality to blow Basel away but FCB have a very tough mentality and this could just turn it in their favour.
Source: DSG
