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Reghecampf lays down the gauntlet to Steaua

If the visit of FC Basel 1893 is a must-win game for FC Steaua Bucureşti and their coach Laurenţiu Reghecampf, his counterpart Murat Yakin is taking nothing for granted.

Steaua coach Laurenţiu Reghecampf is realistic about his side's chances
Steaua coach Laurenţiu Reghecampf is realistic about his side's chances ©Getty Images

Laurenţiu Reghecampf accepts that FC Steaua Bucureşti have one "last chance" to keep alive their hopes of advancing from the UEFA Champions League group stage when they host FC Basel 1893. The Romanian title holders are winless at the foot of Group E, though there is no chance of complacency on the part of Murat Yakin's Basel as they look to atone for their matchday two defeat by FC Schalke 04.

Steaua
Laurenţiu Reghecampf, coach

This is probably the last chance for us to qualify for the next phase. We have to win to remain in the race for second or third place. We will try to play more aggressively, and get two or three players around every opponent who has the ball.

The odds are on Basel to win because we have conceded seven goals and scored none while Basel got three points against Chelsea in London. Basel have been playing better and better lately. We know them well – we played against them last season [in a 1-1 friendly draw in January 2013]. Marco Streller is a dangerous forward but they have other good players too.

We lost our first two games but our objective remains to qualify for the next round. If we win tomorrow we will have a chance; if we don't, we won't. No matter what happens, it will be no disaster. We are top of the Romanian table and we can still win the Romanian Cup – reaching the next round in Europe is just a bonus.

Weekend result
Friday: FC Steaua Bucureşti 4-0 FC Viitorul Constanţa (Stanciu 9, Puţanu og 12 og 66, Tatu 85)
Tătăruşanu; Georgievski, Szukała, Gardoş, Pîrvulescu; Bourceanu, Pintilii (Filip 56); Popa, Stanciu (Tatu 53), Cristea; Piovaccari (Chipciu 78).

• The result consolidated Steaua's position atop the Romanian First Division and extended their unbeaten start to the season to nine games.

Team news
Alexandru Chipciu was a late substitute on Friday, his first appearance since having surgery on his tibia on 21 May.

Basel
Murat Yakin, coach
At this stage we know a lot more about our opponents. Even if Steaua have conceded seven goals, tomorrow night will be a different story. They won't make life easy for us. It's back-to-back games with six points up for grabs. With a positive result in the home fixture we can start dreaming of a place in the last 16. We played well against Chelsea and Schalke. 

We have adapted to each of our opponents. I don't know if we can call ourselves favourites against Steaua because they are in desperate need of points. I have seen both of their games and they played particularly well defensively against Schalke. Tomorrow, we will try and play to our strengths.

Weekend result
Saturday: FC Basel 1893 3-0 FC St Gallen (Frei 27, Streller 51, Xhaka 63)
Sommer; Ajeti, Schär, Ivanov, Voser; Frei (Elneny 72), Die; Delgado (D Degen 85), Xhaka, Stocker (Salah 72); Streller.

• Basel have scored at least twice in six of their last seven outings in all competitions.  

Team news
Full-back Behrang Safari and striker Giovanni Sio are available following domestic suspensions.

Match fact
• Basel lost 1-0 in Romania to CFR 1907 Cluj in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League play-off, Pantelis Kapetanos scoring the only goal. After also succumbing 2-1 at home it meant they missed out on a place in the group stage. They faced the same team in the 2010/11 group phase, going down 2-1 away and winning 1-0 at home.

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