On August 7, from 19:00, FC Basel receives the visit of LASK Linz, in the first leg of the preliminary round 3 of the Champions League. Theoretically, Basel should pass without great emotions from the Austrian team, due to the superior value group.
On St. Jakob-Park in Basel, the hosts will attack from the first half, trying to solve as soon as possible the problem of qualification. Currently, Basel has a young team, but also some experienced, high quality players, who made the difference in the previous preliminary round of the Champions League.
In the previous tour, Basel passed PSV Eindhoven after 2-3 away and 2-1 on their own ground, the return being decided by the goals scored by Commerce (‘8) and Van Wolfswinkel (’68). Basel dominated the statistics in front of the Dutch giant, so a similar evolution on Wednesday night should be sufficient.
In the championship, Basel has so far defended teams like Sion (4-1) and Thun (3-2), but lost the match with St. Gallen (1-2), disputed between the heavy matches with PSV, in the Champions League. Instead LASK Linz enters the competition directly in the preliminary round 3, after playing two championship matches in Austria: 2-0 with Altach and 3-0 with Austria Vienna. In the Austrian Cup, LASK defeated modest Vocklmarkt by 6-2, but this time he will face a high quality opponent with experience in Europe.
PREDICTION: Basel to win @ 1,64
