streller strikes as basel see off liverpool published: wednesday 1 october 2014, 22.39cet fc basel 1893 1-0 liverpool fc a goal seven minutes into the second half from marco streller earned basel's first group b points and consigned liverpool to defeat. by ıan holyman from st. jakob-park
• basel open their group b account with a 1-0 win at st. jakob-park • the swiss champions enjoy the better of the first-half opportunities • marco streller's 52nd-minute goal gives basel victory • liverpool suffer the same fate in basel as chelsea fc last season • breel embolo, 17, makes his uefa champions league debut for paulo sousa's side • next games: ludogorets v basel, liverpool v real madrid (22 october)
marco streller's early second-half goal helped fc basel 1893 bounce back from their matchday one nightmare to beat liverpool fc 1-0.
streller struck seven minutes after the break as paulo sousa's men consigned their 5-1 group b-opening defeat at real madrid cf to distant, if still painful, memory. with a fitful display in switzerland, liverpool met a similar fate to chelsea fc in basel last season, and now face the european champions home and away with their group stage ambitions in the balance.
after losing heavily in the spanish capital, the hosts could have been forgiven a cautious approach, but the bold decision to give 17-year-old forward breel embolo his maiden uefa champions league start was indicative of the bullish manner in which sousa expected his team to play. mohamed elneny certainly snapped at the heels of steven gerrard to win possession, though the liverpool captain made amends when the ball then came to streller by blocking his basel counterpart's promising shot.
simon mignolet was in the way when elneny bent an effort goalwards, and ahmed hamoudi then smashed a cross-cum-shot beyond the far post as basel produced the more threatening moments before the interval. the most dangerous of those came 35 minutes in when geoffroy serey die seized onto streller's return pass and deftly stepped round two challenges only to see mignolet kick away his angled drive.
the aerial prowess of dejan lovren at set pieces aside, liverpool mustered little threat to tomáš vaclík's goal. the swiss title holders, however, continued to probe the visiting back four for signs of fragility.
they found one when hamoudi burst forward on the left before bringing a fine flying stop from mignolet with a wicked low strike. the belgian international goalkeeper's efforts afforded only brief respite, however, as the resulting corner led to streller smashing high into the net from close range after liverpool had been unable to clear.
when vaclík appeared to lose the flight of a mario balotelli free-kick and the ball ricocheted off his chest into the path of lazar marković, fabian schär needed to dash to his keeper's aid to block the serb's follow-up. after slick passing had split the home defence, there may have been no saving basel had raheem sterling's control not let him down, but what seemed a fine goalscoring opportunity vanished as the ball bobbled off the england international's knee to sum up a trying evening for brendan rodgers' men.
