Match Report: FC Basel 1-0 Chelsea FC

Egyptian international Mohammed Salah came back to haunt the Blues yet again as he scored his 3rd goal in as many matches against Chelsea. The Blues didn’t even look to threaten the Swiss side who were pressing high and trying to win the game in a do-or-die fashion.

It is a lose deserved for Jose’s team who were the side trying to see the game off rather than score and secure our passage to the last-16 at the top. Even though we have advanced to the last 16 of the Champions league, our spot of finishing 1st or 2nd in the group is still up for grabs in the last match day against Bucharesti at Stamford Bridge.

Starting 11s:

FC Basel (4-1-4-1): Sommer; Voser, Schar, Ivanov, Xhaka (Ajeti 71); Serey Die; Salah, Elneny, Frei. Stocker (Sauro 90+2); Streller (c) (Sio 77).

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Ramires, Mikel, Lampard; Oscar (Hazard 55), Eto’o (Torres 42), Willian (De Bruyne 86).

Summary: 

Chelsea started the game really slow since FC Basel were threatening the defense so much by challenging for headers and also through the wings with the dangerous pace of Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian had lots of chances to score and assist inside the opening stages of the game.

The Swiss champions could have had an early lead if not for the best player from Chelsea in the night, Petr Cech. The Czech goalkeeper was accustomed to such kind of whether as well as Ivanovic who hails from Serbia. And that benefited the keeper very well as he denied Marko Streller and co. a lot of times in the first half and through out the game.

The pitch was also very much muddy and not comfortable to our players. The worst part of the first period for us though was the injury to Eto’o in the 39th minute. The Cameroonian immediately signaled to be substituted and Fernando Torres came in to replace him.

Then, after the first half which we were so fortunate not to concede, the clubs kicked-off the 2nd half. Chelsea started to control possession a little bit more than we had in the first period. But, all counter attacks leading towards the Basel defense didn’t materialize.

On the other side of the field, Gary Cahill and John Terry were solid through out the game and denied Streller any chance of giving his team the lead. In midfield, we can say Lampard had a really bad game as he was caught out of possession and also was dominated physically by Serey Die who bossed the midfield for much of the game.

Eden Hazard came on for Oscar and De Bruyne for Willian. The Brazilian was arguably our best outfield player through out the game. He chased every ball by pressing and his dribbling echoed that of Mohamed Salah’s on the same flank against Azpilicueta.

In the closing stages we arrived at minute 86 and a long ball was sent in to the left flank where Salah was making his run in. Ivanovic was caught napping in his spot when the Egyptian got through on goal and chipped in a delightful winner over Petr Cech.

Despite some efforts inside the closing the stages of the game, the Blues could not break the deadlock and game ended with a defeat even though we advanced to the last 16 of the Champions league.