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Europa League 2012-13 - QF: Basel (SUI)

Mumorn said:
No, I wouldnt mind them neither.

I was thinking something happened in our history or something and people wanted Benfica in the final for some justice or something. I'm with you though. I don't want no English team in the final, and out of the foreign teams Benfica is the prettiest, plus AVB vs. Benfica. =P~
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By all accounts, we were robbed in the '61-'62 European Cup semi final against Benfica.

Lost the first leg 3-1 after Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Smith both had perfectly good goals ruled out for offside (Smith's, when Benfica had two defenders on the line). Won the second leg 2-1 but had another good goal controversially ruled out for offside, despite the fact that Greaves had dribbled past a number of Benfica defenders before scoring. No pass involved. Baffling decision. We also battered Benfica for 40 minutes after scoring our second (including a Dave Mackay shot thumping the cross bar in the final minute) without, somehow, finding the back of the net.

Benfica beat what was then a fading Real Madrid in the final. Chances are that, if we had been there instead of Benfica, we too would have won - so becoming not only the first British team to win a European trophy (as we became the following year anyway) but also the first British team to win the European Cup, instead of Celtic.

So we owe them one.

And it would make for a prestige final.
 
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jimmyb said:
By all accounts, we were robbed in the '61-'62 European Cup semi final against Benfica.

Lost the first leg 3-1 after Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Smith both had perfectly good goals ruled out for offside (Smith's, when Benfica had two defenders on the line). Won the second leg 2-1 but had another good goal controversially ruled out for offside, despite the fact that Greaves had dribbled past a number of Benfica defenders before scoring. No pass involved. Baffling decision. We also battered Benfica for 40 minutes after scoring our second (including a Dave Mackay shot thumping the cross bar in the final minute) without, somehow, finding the back of the net.

Benfica beat what was then a fading Real Madrid in the final. Chances are that, if we had been there instead of Benfica, we too would have won - so becoming not only the first British team to win a European trophy (as we became the following year anyway) but also the first British team to win the European Cup, instead of Celtic.

So we owe them one.

And it would make for a prestige final.
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Even back then the football Gods were toying with us.
 
indianspur said:
Alexander Frei is the one to watch i guess
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Not sure he's as good as he used to, was benched yesterday.
Marco Streller is their top scorer, big target man. While Mohamed Salah (inverted right winger) has the assists.
Yann Sommer is a great shot stopper, expect him to frustrate us.
I obviously haven't seen too many Basel games, but their left back impress me everytime I see them play - Park Joo-Ho (perhaps someone we should keep an eye on)
 
I think it will be a good test but one we can pass if we get a decent result at home. A more disciplined performance in the away leg on a par with Lyon will be required for sure as they will fancy their chances against us. I see it being Chelsea-Tottenham-Lazio-Benfica in the last 4 but I hope it will be Fenerbahce rather than Lazio.
 
rosenthal said:
Not sure he's as good as he used to, was benched yesterday.
Marco Streller is their top scorer, big target man. While Mohamed Salah (inverted right winger) has the assists.
Yann Sommer is a great shot stopper, expect him to frustrate us.
I obviously haven't seen too many Basel games, but their left back impress me everytime I see them play - Park Joo-Ho (perhaps someone we should keep an eye on)
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I believe Park will be suspended for the 1st Leg along with Philipp Degen and, presumably Diaz who was sent off yesterday.
 
Even back then the football Gods were toying with us.

Those offside decisions when we played Benfica are legendary - they were apparently so poor that you can only think money changed hands. Danish referee Mr Poulson - I'm sure one of the older guys can confirm but you read that they were more than a little strange.
 
lurker of old said:
Even back then the football Gods were toying with us.

Those offside decisions when we played Benfica are legendary - they were apparently so poor that you can only think money changed hands. Danish referee Mr Poulson - I'm sure one of the older guys can confirm but you read that they were more than a little strange.
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As I said earlier, accounts I've read suggest that Bobby Smith's "offside" goal in Lisbon was disallowed despite there being two Benfica defenders on the goal line. And Jimmy Greaves' "offside" goal at the Lane was disallowed despite the fact that he had dribbled past two or three Benfica defenders before scoring. Greaves also had a goal controversially disallowed for offside in Lisbon but history doesn't relate why that one was so controversial.
 
Tbh I don't think we will progress much further whether it is Basel or Barcelona, if we play a high line with Friedel, and/or 442
 
jimmyb said:
As I said earlier, accounts I've read suggest that Bobby Smith's "offside" goal in Lisbon was disallowed despite there being two Benfica defenders on the goal line. And Jimmy Greaves' "offside" goal at the Lane was disallowed despite the fact that he had dribbled past two or three Benfica defenders before scoring. Greaves also had a goal controversially disallowed for offside in Lisbon but history doesn't relate why that one was so controversial.
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after closing the gates at 64400....fans smashed down the gates to get in at WHL must have been some crowd..
 
I was really hoping we would be home in the 2nd leg. I can just see us winning the first leg, and taking our foot off the pedal in the away leg. I actually would like to see Lloris and the first choice back four from now on. We need to treat the two legs the same, go for it in both.

Hope Chelsea, Saudi Sportswashing Machine and Lazio get knocked out. Chelsea for obvious reasons, Lazio because they are racist ****s and we never win at Saudi Sportswashing Machine.
 
So, win the Europa or qualify for Champs League?

I know the answer should be qualify for CL but winning a trophy would be so damn good.
 
You have to be happy about facing Basel in the quarter finals. It could have been a much worse draw for us. But it will be a tricky tie against Basel. It is a bit difficult to prepare against teams like Basel as we won't know what we can expect from them. But they are the league champions in Switzerland for the last 3 years in a row. So, obviously they must have some quality and consistency in their team. We should not forget how another Swiss team Young Boys humiliated us in the CL 2 years ago. So we should not underestimate them.
 
Superted said:
So, win the Europa or qualify for Champs League?

I know the answer should be qualify for CL but winning a trophy would be so damn good.
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No no, the answer should be win the trophy - however modern footballs obsession with money means nowadays most will choose CL.

At this point though, having got ourselves in to a good position in the league, missing out on CL football will seem like a bigger failure than not winning the EL - so it is a tough call.

European trophy for me though, don't want to become Arsenal mkII and consider being in the CL more important than actially winning trophies
 
Spurs don't have too much "previous" against Swiss clubs...

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...and there was also an Inter-Toto match in June 1995 against Luzern which isn't regarded as an official match.
 
billyiddo said:
No no, the answer should be win the trophy - however modern footballs obsession with money means nowadays most will choose CL.

At this point though, having got ourselves in to a good position in the league, missing out on CL football will seem like a bigger failure than not winning the EL - so it is a tough call.

European trophy for me though, don't want to become Arsenal mkII and consider being in the CL more important than actially winning trophies
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Its a double-edged sword, personally I would have the trophy in the bag rather than CL, buy you can see the argument from a club/business side of things.
CL qualification brings in the money with the prospect of better signings much more than winning the EL, which is the way of modern football, and until Mr Platini awards the winners of the EL a CL spot, I would say the majority will plump for CL qualifciation.

Arsenal's seasons seem to be geared to try and finosh 3rd or 4th, above Spurs, and navigating the CL group stages only.
 
paxtonwolf said:
Its a double-edged sword, personally I would have the trophy in the bag rather than CL, buy you can see the argument from a club/business side of things.
CL qualification brings in the money with the prospect of better signings much more than winning the EL, which is the way of modern football, and until Mr Platini awards the winners of the EL a CL spot, I would say the majority will plump for CL qualifciation.

Arsenal's seasons seem to be geared to try and finosh 3rd or 4th, above Spurs, and navigating the CL group stages only.
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It is difficult, but if the club was for whatever reason to blow up in two or three years, lose best players, financial meltdown blah blah blah, and if we have to go through a decade like the 90's again id rather look back on the good times of the last few seasons and think yeah it was the era when we won a European trophy again rather than oh yeah we qualififed for the champions league twice.

Whats a better memory - beating Benfica, Lazio, Chelsea in a European final in Amsterdam or getting crushed by real Madrid on our own patch and going out in the second round/quarter finals? Or even worse - sacrificing European silver to lose a play off match against Valencia or someone :eek:
 
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