2014–15 FC Basel season

Management

First team manager is Paulo Sousa. On 28 May 2014 Basel announced that he had signed a three-year contract. His assistants are Ignacio Torreño, Victor Sanchez and Manuel Cordeiro (all three were brought in by Sousa). Massimo Colomba remained the Goalkeeper coach. Massimo Ceccaroni is head of the FCB Youth System. Coach of the Youth Team (U–21) is Thomas Häberli.

Further information

Last updated: 1 July 2014
Source: FCB Official Site

Offseason and preseason

At the end of the 2013–14 FC Basel season four first team players left the club to continue their careers elsewhere. These were Yann Sommer to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Valentin Stocker to Hertha BSC, Kay Voser to Fulham and Admir Seferagić to Schaffhausen. Also no longer in the team for the following season was David Degen who ended his football career. Basel's four biggest signings for the beginning of the new season were Tomáš Vaclík from Sparta Prague, Yoichiro Kakitani from Cerezo Osaka, Derlis González from S.L. Benfica and Shkëlzen Gashi from Grasshopper Club Zürich. Also new in the team were Luca Zuffi, who transferred from FC Thun, and Walter Samuel who came from Inter Milan on a free transfer.

Midseason

During the winter break two team members transferred into the Bundesliga, Serey Die to VfB Stuttgart and Marcelo Díaz to Hamburger SV. Two further team members were loaned out, Naser Aliji was loaned out to Vaduz from 17 January until 30 June 2015 and Giovanni Sio was sent on loan to Bastia from 1 February also until the end of the season. In the other direction on 10 January Basel announced that Adama Traoré, who plays as a left-back, was transferred in from Vitória de Guimarães signing a three and a half year contract.

Domestic League

Basel's priority aim for the season is to win the league championship for the sixth time in a row. Basel's 2014–15 Swiss Super League season began well with an away victory on 19 July against FC Aarau. In fact they started the season well, winning the next three games as well, the two the home games against Luzern and Zürich and an away game in Thun. But this positive run was stopped abruptly in the fifth round as the team lost the home game against St. Gallen 0–2 with Albert Bunjaku scoring both goals for the guests. Two further victories, away against Sion in the Stade Tourbillon and at home against Young Boys were followed by a defeat in the Letzigrund against the Grasshopper Club. At this time critic started rising against their new trainer Paulo Sousa from the local press, this due to his continual squad rotation (always change the starting team). A home win against Vaduz was followed by a disappointing home draw against Thun and an upsetting defeat against the St. Gallen in the AFG Arena. By this time the critic had risen to its zenith, even from the local fan clubs. However, following four wins from the following five league ties, the negative voices slowly changed into a positive direction. In round 17, as league leaders, Basel played the away tie against second placed Zürich and won 2–1. Shkëlzen Gashi scored both goals. At the end of the first half of the season, Basel, with 41 points, led the league table, eight points ahead of their nearest rivals Zürich and the Young Boys.

Domestic Cup

Basel's clear aim for the 2014–15 Swiss Cup is to regain the title. In the previous two seasons they had ended both cup competitions as runners-up. They started in the first round on 23 August with the away tie in Geneva against CS Italien, a team from the 2. Liga (the sixth tier of the Swiss football league system). Matías Emilio Delgado, Breel Embolo, Fabian Frei and Shkëlzen Gashi scored the goals, in that order, as Basel won 4-0 to proceed into the second round. In the away tie, on 20 September, they also won 4-0 against Winterthur, the first goal being scored by Elneny and the other three from Embolo. The third round tie on 29 October saw Basel play away against Wohlen, who were then the Swiss Challenge League leaders. The small Stadion Niedermatten was sold out, with over 4,000 fans, as Yoichiro Kakitani, Giovanni Sio and again Breel Embolo scored the goals as Basel won 3-1. The quarter-finals were played on 4 March 2015 and Basel were drawn with an away match against FC Münsingen. This was won 6–1 with Yoichiro Kakitani scoring three goals. The Semifinal was played in the AFG Arena against St. Gallen on 8 April. Goal scorers were Džengis Čavušević for St. Gallen, Gashi (twice) as well as an own goal from Mario Mutsch for Basel as Basel won 3–1. The Final will be played on 7 June 2015 in St. Jakob-Park against Sion.

Champions League

Basel entered into the Champions League in the group stage. Their initial aim is to remain in the competition and reach the knockout phase. Basel were drawn into Group B against Real Madrid, Liverpool and Ludogorets Razgrad.

Basels first game was on 16 September, the away tie against Real in the stadium Santiago Bernabéu. This first tie turned out very bad for Basel, Marek Suchý with an own goal after just 14 minutes started a bad phase, then Bale (30th min.), Ronaldo (31) and Rodríguez (37) scored further goals to put Real four goals ahead within just a few minutes. Although González (38) pulled one back soon after, Benzema (79) netted the last and Basel lost 1–5. Despite the fact that Basel had 48% ball possession, they were never really in the game.

The second tie was on 1 October at home to Liverpool. In front of a full house Streller scored the only goal of the game in the 58th minute and Basel won 1–0. According to the Eufa report Basel had more ball possession (56%), more corners (8–4), less offsides (2–7), fewer yellow cards (1–3), fewer fouls (9–10) and more passes (430–322).

On 22 October Basel played their third tie away from home against Ludogorets Razgrad. After a good start by Basel, they were up against difficulties as from the 18th minute because Geoffroy Serey Die was shown a red card for a challenge on Cosmin Moţi. Basel fought well and it looked like it would end in a goalless draw until in the 92nd minute as Wanderson slipped a pass to Yordan Minev on the left. The full-back cut inside his marker onto his right foot and drilled at goal low from 20 metres, the ball sliding into the near corner with goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík caught wrongfooted. Ludogorets Razgrad won the game 1–0. At the end of the day, because Liverpool lost at home against Real, three teams were then equal on three points, Basel, Liverpool and Ludogorets Razgrad.

The return match against Ludogorets Razgrad was on 4 November. Breel Embolo (34), Derlis González (41), Shkëlzen Gashi (59) and Marek Suchý (65) scored the goals as Basel played their best game in the Champions League and won 4–0.

The return match against Real Madrid was three weeks after the Ludogorets Razgrad game on 26 November. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the match as Real Madrid secured the top position in Group B and maintained their 100% record with the victory against Basel.

Basel's last game in the group stage was the away tie in Anfield against Liverpool. In second position in the group and with a two-point advantage over the Reds, Basel only needed the draw to secure their first knockout-stage appearance since season 2011/12. Liverpool required all three points to reach the round of 16 for the first time since 2008/09. Fabian Frei scored for Basel after 25 minutes, a low left footed shot, after receiving the pass from Luca Zuffi he fired in from just outside the box. Basel dominated the first half and thoroughly deserved to be in the lead. Liverpool's Lazar Marković was sent off in the 60th minute after he threw his hand into Behrang Safari's face. In the 81st minute Steven Gerrard scored the equalizer from a direct free-kick. But Basel held on until the final whistle and the one all draw saw them advance to the Champions League knockout phase, while Liverpool fell into the UEFA Europa League knockout phase.

Champions League knockout phase

Basel's initial Champions League aim, to remain in the competition and reach the knockout phase was achieved herewith. With the draw to the round of 16 there were indeed hopes that the could reach the next round and the next aim was communicated as reaching the quarterfinals.

Basel were drawn with the first game at home in the St. Jakob-Park to Porto. It was great atmosphere in the stadium even before the teams emerged from the tunnel. There was a decent-sized pocket of Porto fans, but they did well to make themselves heard. The attendance was a total of 34,464 spectators. Basel started the game well and in the eleventh minute Fabian Frei floated a long ball over the top of the defence and Derlis Gonzalez controlled the ball well, his finish was clever with the outside of his right boot and it's ramped up the noise even further. It was Gonzalez's third Champions League goal of the season. Porto responded and took control of the match, suddenly the game had greater fluidity. Porto had up to 60% ball possession, they created chances, but Basel held on well. Eventually Portos efforts paid off as they were awarded a penalty in the 79' minute, Danilo scored from the spot. It was a precise penalty into the bottom corner to Tomáš Vaclík's right and Porto got the away goal that they so badly wanted. A total of nine yellow cards were given during the match. At the end both teams seemed content to go into the return fixture at 1–1. The furious, physical nature of the game had evaporated somewhat as the game approached the final whistle.

Before this second leg, all talk was about how Porto would cope without Jackson Martínez, after their forward and captain was ruled out for "several weeks" with a groin problem. But the second leg in Estádio do Dragão started badly for Basel. Yacine Brahimi superbly executed a free kick in the 14th minute to put Porto one up. Any hopes that Basel had were vanquished soon after half-time as Héctor Herrera made it 2–0, bending in a shot from the edge of the penalty area. Casemiro scored with a wonderful free-kick just a few minutes later. Finally, it was Vincent Aboubakar's fine shot, after he turned around Walter Samuel, before rifling in from over 20 Meters with some 14 minutes left that gave the 4–0 end result. Samuel, who conceded the set piece for the opening goal, ended the evening with another low because he was sent off. The second leg was fairer than the physically aggressive first leg, a total of four yellow cards and one red were shown during the return match.

Basel's Champions League aims ended here, but the Champion League campaign can be described as being a very successful adventure.

First team squad

The following is the list of the Basel first team squad. It also includes players that were in the squad the day the season started on 19 July but subsequently left the club after that date.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Results and Fixtures

Kickoff times are in CET

Legend

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

League table

Results summary

Last updated: 29 May 2015.
Source: Fussballdaten.de

Group stage

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 15 December 2014. The first legs of the knockout phase were played on 17, 18, 24 and 25 February, and the second legs played on 10, 11, 17 and 18 March 2015.

Porto won 5–1 on aggregate.