The Swiss FC Basel has excellent paper for a place in the quarterfinals of the Europa League. They won the first match at Eintracht Frankfurt with no less than 0-3. Or are the Germans able to surprise on Thursday?
Basel:
FC Basel caused a thunderous surprise in March by beating Eintracht Frankfurt with a whopping 0-3. In an empty stadium, the difference in power was not as great as the final score might suggest. Basically Basel didn’t play a great game at all, but the home team baked even less of it. Due to two late hits – from Kevin Bua and Fabian Frei – Basel settled in a seat.
After the game in Frankfurt, the season also stopped for Basel for a long time. After the resumption, the team of trainer Marcel Koller struggled to find the top form. In the Swiss Super League, the team finished in third place, behind BSC Young Boys and Sankt Gallen. The last three league matches ended in ties. “Eintracht needs goals,” Koller said at the preliminary press conference. “That’s why I expect them to be risky. They will try everything, and want to score early. ” However, Basel can rely on good results in the Europa League, in which it won no less than seven of the nine games played this season.
Eintracht Frankfurt:
In the sixteenth finals, Eintracht Frankfurt delivered another excellent performance, by eliminating RB Salzburg – last year’s semi-finalist. However, in the first leg of the eighth finals, Frankfurt did not appear in the play at all. What did not help was that the Basel match was played in a busy period. For a team like Eintracht, which likes to play physically, that sequence of games came a little too quickly. The uninspired team was played to a 0-3 defeat in its own stadium. The two late goals against were particularly disappointing.
After the restart of the league, the form of Die SGE was initially mediocre, but by the end of the season the results got better. Ten points were taken from the last four league duels. That final sprint, however, came too late in the battle for European football – Bas Dost and his teammates finished in ninth place in the final ranking. Only if this edition of the Europa League is won, will the Germans be allowed to take European action next season.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,52
