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Spurs bar Basel's path to the last four

FC Basel 1893's fine home form and Tottenham Hotspur FC's shaky results on the road suggest that the Swiss champions may be on course for a first major UEFA semi-final appearance.

Spurs' Lewis Holtby looks to stop Basel's Mohamed Salah
Spurs' Lewis Holtby looks to stop Basel's Mohamed Salah ©Getty Images

FC Basel 1893 have the wind in their sails following a 2-2 UEFA Europa League quarter-final draw at Tottenham Hotspur FC, but know the tie is far from over.

• The Swiss champions could easily have got the better of the sides' first European meeting, Valentin Stocker and Fabian Frei striking to give them a 2-0 lead at White Hart Lane, but goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson allowed André Villas-Boas's side to secure a draw.

Previous meetings
• Basel's record in 17 games against English clubs is W3 D6 L8 (W3 D2 L3 in Switzerland – W0 D4 L5 in England). They have lost the second legs of all three of their previous two-legged ties against English sides, though all three of those games were away from home.

• Tottenham's six games against Swiss sides have ended W3 D1 L2 (W2 D1 L1 at home – W1 D0 L1 in Switzerland). Those six matches produced 26 goals, with Tottenham scoring four or more in each of their three victories.

• Basel helped eliminate Manchester United FC from the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage, drawing 3-3 in Manchester before a 2-1 home win on matchday six to reach the round of 16.

• The last time Basel reached the quarter-finals of this competition, in 2005/06, they were eliminated by another English club, Middlesbrough FC, despite winning the first leg 2-0 at home. They also scored first in the return, but conceded four times in the final 57 minutes of the tie to lose 4-3 on aggregate.

• Basel's coach at that time was former Tottenham manager Christian Gross, who was in charge at White Hart Lane from November 1997 to September 1998 before joining Basel. There he won four national titles and four Swiss Cups (1999–2009).

Match background
• Basel are on excellent form at home. Since drawing 2-2 with KRC Genk in their first group stage home game, they have won their last four UEFA Europa League games at St. Jakob-Park without conceding a goal.

• Spurs, by contrast, are without a win in five UEFA Europa League away games – four draws followed by a 4-1 defeat at FC Internazionale Milano in the round of 16.

• Three English teams – Chelsea FC, Newcastle United FC and Tottenham – have reached the last eight. In each of the previous two seasons in which a country has taken three clubs to the quarter-finals, one of that number has gone on to lift the trophy – FC Porto (Portugal) in 2010/11 and Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain) in 2011/12 – beating opponents from their own country in the final.

• Basel are the only reigning domestic champions still in the competition. They have also played more European matches this season than any other surviving team (17), having begun their continental campaign in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.

• Tottenham are the only side left in the competition who have won this trophy before, lifting the UEFA Cup in 1971/72 and 1983/84.

• Tottenham could become the fourth side to lift this trophy for a third time, along with Juventus, Inter and Liverpool FC.

• Basel have yet to reach the semi-finals of a major European club competition.

Team facts
• Basel's Valentin Stocker celebrates his 24th birthday the day after this game.

• Defender Jan Vertonghen has appeared in all 1020 minutes of Tottenham's UEFA Europa League campaign. Midfielder Aaron Lennon has also made 11 appearances since the start of the group stage, but only nine starts.

• Goalkeeper Yann Sommer is the only Basel player who has featured in all 990 minutes of their campaign since the start of the group stage.

• Basel's David Degen has made 45 UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League appearances – more than any player left in the competition, though SL Benfica's Luisão is just behind him with 44.

• At 41, Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel is the oldest player left in the competition. He is over six years older than his manager André Villas-Boas, and also has over three years on Basel coach Murat Yakin.

• Basel forward Alexander Frei – who will hang up his boots in the summer – has scored the most European club competition goals of any of the players left in the competition: 32 in 59 games.

• Basel have scored ten of their 14 goals since the start of the group stage after the 60th minute, including six between the 76th minute and full time.

• Five of Tottenham's 17 goals in normal time have come between the 76th minute and the final whistle.

• Tottenham's 17-year-old Serbian central defender Miloš Veljković was born and raised in Basel, and started his career with the Swiss champions before moving to White Hart Lane in 2011.

• Jermain Defoe featured in England's 3-1 win against Switzerland at Basel's St. Jakob-Park in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier on 7 September 2010.

• Murat Yakin replaced Heiko Vogel as Basel coach in October. The older brother of fellow former Swiss international Hakan Yakin, he was capped 49 times as a defender and represented Grasshopper Club, VfB Stuttgart, Fenerbahçe SK and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, but enjoyed his best seasons as captain of Basel, leading them to three league titles and two Swiss Cups. He has also coached FC Concordia Basel, FC Thun and FC Luzern.

• André Villas-Boas received his first break in coaching as a teenager from then Porto boss Sir Bobby Robson, and later assisted José Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter. He struck out alone at A. Académica de Coimbra and then led Porto to a domestic double and the UEFA Cup in 2010/11. A move to Chelsea that summer proved short-lived, before he took charge at Tottenham in July 2012.

• Villas-Boas (Porto 2010/11) and Chelsea's Rafael Benítez (Valencia CF 2003/04) are the only coaches left in the competition to have won the trophy.

Penalty shoot-outs
• Basel have never featured in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA competition.

• Tottenham's shoot-out record is:
L 5-6 (away) v PSV Eindhoven, 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16
W 4-3 (home) v RSC Anderlecht, 1983/84 UEFA Cup final second leg

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