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Basel poked fun at Liverpool on twitter
Two dramatic nights full of absolutely stunning goals, new records and action-packed games concluded the group stage of the 2014/2015 UEFA Champions League
Once again, the headlines read “Basel ousts Liverpool” and a club who pride themselves on their history in European competition will continue this season’s campaign in the Europa League. Almost exactly twelve years to the day that the Swiss club FC Basel held the mighty Reds of Liverpool to a draw on to secure passage on to the round of 16 on their competition debut, the small club who now boast a big reputation for knocking out English giants (ask Chelsea and Spurs) worked their magic again and earned the precious point that they needed to take second in Group B and to move on to the knockout stages of the 2014/2015 campaign past Brendan Rodgers men.
Liverpool failed to get the win that they needed to stay in Europe’s most prestigious club competition on Tuesday night as they drew EPL headhunters FC Basel at home in a dramatic and highly entertaining match at Anfield. Two stunning goals, a red card, box-to-box action, euphoria and heartbreak can accurately sum up one of the best fixtures that European football has seen for a long time.
Both FC Basel and Liverpool are backed by passionate, dedicated and very boisterous fans. The roar from both the home supporters and Basel’s impressive contingent of field-tripping fans created the atmosphere that these historic European nights are known for.
Basel were the ones to find the back of the net first with a fantastic strike from Swiss midfielder Fabian Frei. The visitors took advantage of Liverpool’s defense, which has looked far from impressive in recent fixtures both in European competition and in the league.
A cheeky little layoff from Luca Zuffi found Frei completely unmarked with loads of both space and time, not something that’s easy to come by in the Champions League, and the 24-year-old made no mistake in rocketing a low and hard shot past a unsuspecting Mignolet. Raheem Sterling retaliated with a chance on goal but thanks to a brilliant performance from Vaclik between the sticks, the visitors managed to keep Liverpool at bay and to keep a clean sheet going in to the halftime break.
Liverpool’s momentous task of staging a comeback grew exponentially harder in the 60th minute when Markovic saw red for seemingly reaching out to smack Basel’s defender Safari in the face as the two chased down the ball. Now down to ten men, Liverpool needed a miracle to get their two goals and they nearly had it when Stevie G netted an absolute stunner nine minutes from time.
Gerrard’s equalizer, also the Liverpool legend’s 100th Anfield goal, gave way to one of the most exciting fourteen minutes of football ever played on the legendary ground. The ball hardly passed through the midfield as both teams raced to the goal, each one wanting to net the one that would secure them their place in the knockout stage. In the end, the draw was enough for the Swiss Champions and Brendan Rodgers’ criticized side will have to face the music once again as they fail to deliver the performance that they desperately needed.
Elsewhere – Real Madrid march on
Real Madrid topped the group without a problem, securing their spot in the round of 16 on matchday five with their narrow win over Basel in Switzerland. Cristiano Ronaldo was the solo goalscorer that night, and he found the back of the net again on the final night of group play when he converted a penalty in the 20th minute to open the scoring for Madrid. His goal was forgettable in comparison to the mind-boggling chip 20-year-old academy product, Alvaro Medran. In the 88th minute, the substitute put a neat shot over the arms of Ludogorets keeper Stoyanov and capped off his debut and Real Madrid’s night. The Spanish side became the sixth team in the history of the competition to win all six of their group stage games and went through with a flawless 18 points.
The action was also tight in Group C where the battle for points came down to a qualification spot in the Europa League. If they won and Zenit lost, Benfica would take third. Bayer Leverkusen were through to the round of 16 with a chance to take first in the group when they faced off against the Portuguese side, but that game produced a disappointing 0-0 draw. Monaco defeated Zenit to take the top spot by one point and in spite of the loss, the Russians run in Europe will continue in the Europa League.
Schalke 04 squeeze through
On Wednesday night, spots in Group G were still up for grabs after Schalke and Sporting Lisbon found themselves in a mathematical crunch. Luckily for the Germans, Sporting headed to Stamford Bridge needing only a draw, although that is a daunting task when facing Jose Mourinho’s men. Schalke hosted Maribor and only came by the victory thanks to the young Max Meyer capitalized on a poor clearance by Maribor goalkeeper Handanovic and got his side the goal they desperately needed. Chelsea’s convincing 3-1 win meant that the English side went through the group stage undefeated and that Sporting Lisbon finish third.
Messi extends scoring record
More records were set in Catalonia when Barcelona hosted Paris Saint Germain. Both teams were through, only the seeded top spot was on the line for the two sides boasting all-star lineups. The one-chance-one-goal Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring in the 15th minute and became the tenth highest goalscorer in European History.
Lionel Messi had an answer to that, and four minutes later he found the back of the net to make his total European goal tally to a whopping 75 and to raise the bar higher for future generations to grace the European football stage. Cristiano Ronaldo currently trails his record by three goals but both surpassed the legendary Raul’s record on matchday five. Neymar’s world-class strike and Luis Suarez’s 77th minute goal added to Messi’s and the home side won in their usual dazzling fashion 3-1 on the night.
From Group F, Barcelona and PSG advance and APOEL failed to get the win that they needed to pass Ajax and take third in the group. The Dutch side take the Europa League spot and the club from Cyprus are done in Europe for this season.
Rome fiddles while City turn
In the much-anticipated Group E matchups, Manchester City, AS Roma and CSKA Moscow all battled it out for the second place spot. Bayern Munich dominated the group and advanced on matchday five while the remaining spots came down to the other three clubs who were all tied on five points after the action. Manchester City got the precious three points that they needed in a 2-0 win over Roma thanks to a smashing strike from Samir Nasri, an icing-on-the-cake goal from Zabaleta and a little bit of help from Joe Hart and the goal post. It was a night to remember for the blues fans and one to forget for Roma. Luckily for the Italians, Bayern Munich defeated CSKA and a better head-to-head record meant that they took third and Moscow are out of European competition.
From Group A, Atletico Madrid and Juventus will advance after their bland draw in Turin on Tuesday night and Olympiacos of Greece will drop into the Europa League round of 32. In Group B, Real Madrid take their flawless record through and FC Basel will deservedly take the second spot. Brendan Rodgers and his deflated side are now favorites to win the Europa League at St. Jakob-Park in May. In Group C, Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen advance and Zenit St. Petersburg got the result that they needed to secure third. In spite of being in the relegation zone in the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund top Group D and are followed by Arsenal who’s successful group campaign was topped off with two great goals apiece from Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsay on Tuesday night.
Anderlecht easily took third place with six points whereas the Turkish side Galatasaray only managed one point from the six games. In Group E, the German champions Bayern Munich took top, followed by Manchester City while AS Roma will still participate in Europe in the Europa League round of 32.
Group F finished with Messi and company taking top in Catalonia, Paris Saint Germain following in second and Ajax defeating APOEL to earn their third place finish. Chelsea FC and their legendary coach, Mourinho, finished in first place in Group G with Schalke finishing one point ahead of Sporting Lisbon to take the last qualifying spot. Finally, Group H concludes with FC Porto taking first with an impressive fourteen points, Shakhtar Donetsk coming in second, and Athletic Bilbao of Spain securing a spot in the Europa League.
