Basel and CSKA Sofia meet at St. Jakob ‑ Park, in a match for this stage of the UEFA Europa League (Playoffs). There is no record of direct confrontations between these two teams in the last 3 years. The last match was played on 05‑11‑2009 and ended with the score: Basel (3‑1) CSKA Sofia. In this match, the home factor may be decisive, as CSKA Sofia presents considerable differences in their results at home and away.
Basel :
Until reaching this stage of the UEFA Europa League (Playoffs), the home team eliminated: Anorthosis and Osijek. This is a team that presents similar results at home and away, so it is not usually affected by the home factor, since in the last 30 games it has recorded 6 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses as a visitor; against 8 victories, 4 draws and 3 defeats in his stadium. The team comes to this match after a away loss against Servette by (1‑0). In the last 10 home matches for all competitions, Basel won 5, drew 3 and lost 2. Their defense has not been very strong, since they have conceded goals in 8 of the last 10 matches, but their attack has scored with consistency, as they have scored goals in 8 of the last 10 games.
Basel comes to this game after a 1-0 defeat in the visit to Servette, in a match counting for the Swiss championship. It should be remembered that the local team reaches this round of the Europa League after beating Osijek, by 1-2, and Anorthosis Famagusta, by 3-2. Coach Ciriaco Sforza’s team must act on the attack from the first minutes, taking advantage of all the opponent’s weaknesses. In addition, Basel must use the entire left flank to create danger, largely due to the individual quality of winger Valentin Stocker, a very fast and strong player in transporting the ball to attack. Out of this game are Luca Zuffi and Kuzmanovic, both injured.
CSKA Sofia:
The visiting team reaches this stage of the UEFA Europa League (Playoffs) after having played previous qualifiers with: B36, BATE and Sirens. This is a stronger team with the support of its fans, since in the last 30 games it has registered 5 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses as a visitor; against 10 wins and 5 draws in his stadium. In their last match, for A PFG, they lost in an away match against Lokomotiv Plovdiv by (2‑1). In their last 10 away matches CSKA Sofia has recorded 3 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses. The team allowed goals to the opponent in 8 of the last 10 matches, so their defense needs to improve, but their attack has scored regularly, as they have always scored at least one goal in the last 10 matches. In their home matches there is a tendency for few goals, since 8 of the last 19 matches have ended with Under 1,5 goals. In 15 games, he only managed 1 comeback in the 5 games in which he suffered the first goal. In the last 5 home matches for all competitions there is 1 period that stands out: they have conceded 5 of their 6 goals between minutes (31′ ‑ 45 ‘).
CSKA Sofía comes to this game unmotivated, after a 2-1 defeat at the Lok Plovdiv stadium visit, for the Bulgarian championship. It should be noted that the Bulgarians beat B36 3-1 in the last round of the Europa League. In this match against Basel, coach Stamen Belchev must act in the usual 4-3-3, with Graham Carey, Georgi Yomov and Ali Sowe the offensive references of the visiting team: the latter is very competent in the passing game. All players are available for this game.
