- In the 4th group game of the Conference League, FCB fought for a draw at Slovan Bratislava after being 3-1 down.
- In the away game in the Slovakian capital, Darian Males and the two jokers Andy Diouf and Andi Zeqiri meet.
- This puts Basel at the top of the group H standings with seven points.
Alex Frei was allowed to pat himself on the back after the 3:3 in Bratislava. In the end, it was the coach of “Bebbi” who showed the right touch with two substitutions and paved the way for FC Basel to win a point in Slovakia.
Frei’s trumps are double
In the 64th minute, the 43-year-old reacted to the two-goal deficit and reinforced the efforts of the Red-Blues on the offensive with Zeki Amdouni, Andy Diouf and Andi Zeqiri. And the triple change had an immediate effect: just 77 seconds after his debut, Diouf (67th) shortened the second attempt.
In the 72nd minute, the closest joker was the Basler. After a sharp cross from Michael Lang, Zeqiri got the ball in front of the Slovan defender and sent it past Adrian Chovan in the home goal to level.
Slovan’s prompt triplet
An unwritten law of football seemed to be confirmed in Bratislava beforehand: a goal just before the half-time whistle represents a psychological advantage for the goal scorer’s team. Bitter from Basel’s point of view that the player with Vladimir Weiss wore the shirt of Slovan Bratislava. Like the Slovak captain, Darian Males (26th) had previously scored from the spot.
After the break, however, the hosts pointed to a home win with a double strike between the 49th and 53rd minute. First Juraj Kucka headed the lead for the first time, then Aleksandar Cavric made FCB goalie Mirko Salvi look old in a direct duel and made it 3-1. Luckily from Basel’s point of view, Frei already had a plan B up his sleeve.
Basel prevents worse
With the draw, the Baslers are at the top of the intermediate classification with 7 points after two missing duels and keep their real chances of direct qualification for the round of 16. Because the previously winless Zalgiris Vilnius beat Pjunik Yerevan 2-1 in the evening game, everything in Group H is close together.