Belenenses v Basel background
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Article summary
It has been a campaign of extremes for Belenenses, who followed up their heaviest European defeat with a 2-1 success at Basel – only their second UEFA competition away win.
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Os Belenenses recorded a shock victory at FC Basel 1893 on UEFA Europa League matchday three and will be hoping for a Group I double, with the Swiss champions yet to win a game in Portugal.
Previous meetings
• First-half goals from Luís Leal and Kuca overturned Michael Lang's 15th-minute opener as Belenenses prevailed 2-1 at St. Jakob-Park on 22 October – it was only their second away win in UEFA competition, following a 1-0 success at SCR Altach in August.
• Matchday three brought Belenenses's first encounter with Swiss opponents.
• Basel's 13 games against Portuguese teams have ended W2 D4 L7 (W0 D3 L3 in Portugal).
Form guide
• Belenenses have not scored in their last two European home fixtures (D1 L1), with their 4-0 loss to ACF Fiorentina on matchday two their heaviest UEFA competition defeat.
• Basel went into matchday three unbeaten in six games in Europe this season. They remain undefeated away from home in 2015/16 continental competition (W2 D1).
• Belenenses are making their UEFA group stage debut. This is set to be the longest campaign in their European history – at least ten games.
• Basel have featured in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage six times – they have made it to the knockout stage on four occasions and been eliminated twice.
Trivia and links
• The journey from Lisbon to Basel is around 1,650km.
• The 2016 UEFA Europa League final will be played at Basel's St. Jakob-Park on 18 May.
• Basel's Marc Janko played in Portugal with FC Porto from January to August 2012.
• Basel are one of ten sides in the group stage who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), Qarabağ FK (Albania), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), FK Partizan (Serbia), Molde FK (Norway), Celtic FC (Scotland) and KKS Lech Poznań (Poland).
The coaches
• Ricardo Sá Pinto returned to Portugal to take charge of Belenenses in the summer following two years with FK Crvena zvezda, OFI Crete and Atromitos FC. He had earlier coached Sporting Clube de Portugal, the club where he made his name. He was a losing UEFA Cup finalist with Sporting in 2005.
• Urs Fischer was hired by Basel this summer following Paulo Sousa's move to Fiorentina. The one-time FC Zürich defender has already led Zürich (2011/12) and FC Thun (2013/14) into the UEFA Europa League group stage, though neither side made it to the knockout phase.
