Basel belief shines through

One banner at Saint Jakob Park may have proclaimed 'Sleepers Basel' but it was Liverpool FC who were caught napping as FC Basel cruised into a 3-0 lead inside the first half-hour, and despite being pegged back to 3-3 became the first Swiss side to reach the UEFA Champions League second group stage, at their visitors' expense.

'We believed'
Basel coach Christian Gross was thrilled by the performance. "We believed in ourselves and the players never doubted themselves either," he said after the game. Swiss reserve was shattered as Julio Hernán Rossi opened the scoring within 100 seconds and the stadium erupted 20 minutes later when his fellow striker Christian Giménez doubled the lead when Liverpool's defence was again caught out rather too easily.

Owen shut out
Gross's boast that the pair could score on any occasion was proving all too true against the four-times European champions, with the Argentinian duo looking like they could find the back of the net with every attack. At the other end, European Footballer of the Year Michael Owen had had barely a sniff of goal.

Magnificent free-kick
Of course, Owen was not getting the sort of service that Hakin Yakin was providing for Basel. The playmaker, who supplied both of the first two goals, was it again after 29 minutes with his magnificent free-kick only parried by Jerzy Dudek, allowing the impressive Timothée Atouba to coolly side-foot into the empty net. Liverpool coach Gérard Houllier's pre-match assertion that his side were underdogs was looking like an understatement.

Fascinating finale
But Liverpool were never going to go down without a fight and two goals in a three-minute spell just after the hour set up a fascinating finale. It became unbearable for the home fans after Owen bundled in an equaliser after 85 minutes after his own penalty had been parried, but Basel held on to advance.

Hall of infamy
"Of course going 3-0 ahead was superb for us after a fantastic opening 45 minutes," said Gross. "Perhaps we ran too hard and did too much in the first half but even when Liverpool fought back we did not doubt ourselves."

Too little, too late
Liverpool's scant consolation came in belying their reputation for negative football once again. As against Deportivo Alavés and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the last two seasons, they have again played in possibly the European season's most thrilling match. But their conversion to all-out attack was too little, too late and the 2001 UEFA Cup winners make an somewhat unwanted return to that competition.

Henchoz philosophical
That possibility had just dawned on Liverpool's Swiss defender Stéphane Henchoz, who missed the match through injury. He told uefa.com: "We had never thought about that but now we are third and we will play in the UEFA Cup. Unfortunately, it was not the Champions League but we will give it our best shot and will try to go as far as we can."

'I'm happy for the Swiss'
Speaking as a Swiss international, he added. "It is great for Swiss football and for Basel to go through to the second stage. I'm happy for the Swiss and the Swiss fans."

Illustrious company
But the last word goes to Basel and coach Gross. "Now I am looking forward to Friday's draw and will be delighted if Ronaldo and Real Madrid [CF] come here to play us," he said. And after their first-half display, few now can argue that Basel do not belong in such illustrious company.