Chelsea face Basel away on Matchday 5 in the UEFA Champions League group stages, needing just a point to qualify. Lets take a look at all the relevant information before the tie.
DATE & TIME: November 26, 2013 at 14:45 EDT; November 26, 2013 at 19:45 GMT; November 6, 2013 at 20:45 WAT; November 26, 2013 at 21:45 CAT; November 26, 2013 at 22:45 EAT; November 27, 2013 at 01:15 IST.
VENUE: St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland.
TV/STREAMING NEWS: The match will be telecast live on ESPN3 in Australia, Sky Sport 1/2/8/HD in Austria, SuperSport 6 in African sub-continent, Sportsnet World in Canada, ESPN 3 South America in Colombia, Al Jazeera Sport +3/HD3 in Egypt, beIN Sport MAX/MAX 5 in France, Sky Sport 1/1 HD/2/2 HD/8 in Germany, Ten HD in India, Sky Calcio 5 in Italy, J Sports 4 in Japan, Sport 1 Live in Netherlands, Canal+ Yomvi in Spain, Al Jazeera Sport +3/HD3 in UAE, Sky Sports 2/HD in UK and Fox Sports 1 in USA.
Chelsea TV will have the live audio of the game.
It is also available online on SuperSport Streaming in African sub-continent, Ten Sports Live in India & Indian sub-continent, Sky Go UK in UK and Fox Soccer 2 Go in USA.
FC BASEL SQUAD NEWS: Basel will miss a couple of players for tomorrow’s game, namely Marcelo Diaz(knee) & Behrang Safari(thigh).
Predicted Starting XI: Sommer, Voser, Ivanov, Schár, Xhaka, Frei, Die, Salah, Delgado, Stocker, Streller.
CHELSEA FC SQUAD NEWS: David Luiz, recovering from a knee injury will play no part in Tuesday’s game joining Marco van Ginkel, who is recuperating from his cruciate ligament tear, on the sidelines. Fernando Torres has resumed training and travelled with the squad, but it remains to see if he starts.
Predicted Starting XI: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Lampard, Schuerrle, Mata, Hazard, Eto’o.
REFEREE: Stéphane Lannoy (France).
TEAM STANDINGS: Chelsea sit atop group E with 9 points, followed by Schalke with 6 and Basel with 5. Steaua are bottom of the group with just 2 points after 4 matchdays.
THOUGHTS FROM THE ENEMY: Basel manager Murat Yakin has reiterated the fact that his team would like to cause another upset & hopes to qualify for the knock-out stages.
“We would like to stay in the Champions League over the winter. We want to achieve our first home win here. It was nice after the win that we achieved in London. I don’t like to look back. We’re focused now on the match tomorrow. We have to be clever and smart and we want to show our spectators a great performance and fight for the win.”
FUN TRIVIA:
- Chelsea have won 100 matches in all UEFA competitions & drawn 49.
- Chelsea have scored at least 3 goals in their last 3 matches in the Champions League.
- The Blues have finished as group winners in seven of their last ten campaigns, qualifying for the knockout rounds as runners-up in two of the other years.
IN A NUTSHELL: Although a draw will suffice for qualification to the knock-outs, Chelsea will look to win against the Swiss side, as it will ensure the Blues automatic top spot in Group E, irrespective of Schalke’s result in the other encounter. Basel have a good record on their home-ground in past UEFA seasons with wins against the likes of Manchester United & Bayern Munich. Mourinho is expected to pick a strong squad which will help Chelsea gain 3 valuable points and hence, render the tie on Matchday 6 pointless.
