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Spurs record in Europe:-
U.E.F.A Champions League
P W D L F - A
12 5 3 4 25 -19
European Cup
P W D L F - A
8 4 1 3 21 - 13
(Semi-Finalists 1962)
European Cup Winners Cup
P W D L F - A
33 20 5 8 65 - 34
(Winners 1963)
UEFA Cup/Europa League
P W D L F - A
104 59 27 18 211-85
(Winners 1972, 1984
Finalists 1974)
Total
P W D L F - A
157 88 36 33 322-151
Beware of Basel, Streller, Frei, and the referee!
The first thing that comes to mind when you mention Basel is former Spurs manager Christian Gross. Gross was appointed as manager at Tottenham after Gerry Francis was sacked in November 1997. The Swiss born man came as a winner with Grasshoppers, where in just over four seasons he won two Swiss Championships and the Swiss Cup.
Despite all his "hard werk", and the successful avoidance of relegation at the end of the 97-98 season (some would say that was thanks to the half-season return of Jurgen Klinsmann), Gross was pushed out early the following season, and went back to Switzerland, where he took over at Basel, spending nine seasons in charge. This time, Gross led his team to four Championships, four Cup wins, and even a great run in the Champions League in 2002. Gross moved on to Stuttgart for two seasons, and then went back to Switzerland with Young Boys, who we beat in the Champions League qualifier in August 2010 (before Gross's appointment). Gross was sacked at the end of last season, and would still appear to be on a sabbatical.
Basel is in a Swiss-German area of the country that also has French and Italian regions. Thus the local spelling and pronunciation is "Basel", whereas we tend to refer to the town as "Baal" (spelt Basle).
FC Basel was established in 1893, and is currently the leading team in the Swiss super league. They were the Champions last year, and entered the Champions League at the second qualifying round, making it as far as the final qualifier, when they were beaten at home and away by the Romanian team FC Cluj, who were Inter's victims in the Europa League round of 32, having finished third in the Champions League group which was won by Man Utd, with Galatasary second.
Basel's manager is former player and former Swiss International, 38 year old Murat Yakin, who is a local man too. Yakin played 115 league games for Basel between 2001 andd 2006, and played for his country too, so he is a man of experience and some success. He has graduated as a manager through other Swiss clubs Concordia, Thun and Luzern.
Basel finished second in the Europa League Group (G), wehich was won by Racing Genk, and included FC Fehervar (from Hungary) and Sporting (from Portugal). The Swiss club won 2, drew 3, and lost one game in Hungary in the group stage. Then they beat Dnipro (from Ukraine) in the Round of 32, and more impressively, Champions League drop-outs Zenit St. Petersburg in the last round. Basel did lose the away leg, although that has been their only defeat in their last 13 games, 9 of which have been wins.
Basel are currently top of their league, and their main scoring threat is 31 year old Swiss International Marco Streller, who has been with the club for 6 seasons now, and has scored 88 goals in 175 league games. In all competitions this season, he has scored 17 goals, and he is Basel's penalty taker. The veteran International striker Alexander Frei is used conservatively by Yakin, and has chipped in with 9 goals in a season which started back in July. Basel do enjoy a winter break though. Frei will be retiring at the end of this season.
Another familiar name would be winger David Degen, who played against us for Young Boys. Basel have a good scoring record, and come to us in good form, with two defeats in their last 19 games, and a 4-0 win at Luzern on Monday.
I'm hoping to see Benoit Assou-Ekotto start this game, and this looks quite likely with Kyle Walker suspended for this game due to having been booked three times now in the tournament. That means Kyle Naughton will be at right back, I assume. Team news today tells us that Defoe is out with a muscle injury. It has been suggested he will be out for two or three games. That's Adebayor up front then! Tom Carroll is also out injured, and Younes Kaboul is not yet ready for first team football. Hugo Lloris is fit, but likely to start on the bench, as is usual these days for The Europa League.
With those limitations, I expect us to field as strong a side as possible. I don't think we'll need the three goal lead we managed at home to Inter, but a two goal lead is surely essential, so let's go for that, and wheel on the subs once the game is secure. I'll go for a 3-1 win, but that will need Gareth Bale to make his usual contribution I think, as goals from other quarters seem hard to come by.
The officials for this game are from Serbia, and the referee will be Mr. Milorad Mazic, who was in charge of our game away to PAOK in September, 2011. Mr. Mazic scored only 4 out of 10 on that day from voters who said he denied us a clear penalty, and awarded a harsh one against Carlo Cudicini. Mr. Mazic was viewed as card happy, so Spurs would do well to beware of an officious nature. In 23 games this season, at all levels, this referee has managed to keep his cards in his pocket just twice, and has an average of 4 cards per game, which includes three reds. Incidentally, the referee observer, appointed by UEFA will be one Pierluigi Collina!
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