embolo leads basel to ludogorets stroll published: tuesday 4 november 2014, 22.47cet fc basel 1893 4-0 pfc ludogorets razgrad a first-half goal by 17-year-old breel embolo set the swiss champions on the way to a second home win and clear second place in group b.
• basel go second in group b with emphatic home win against ludogorets • 17-year-old breel embolo opens scoring (34) • derlis gonzalez (41) and shkelzen gashi (59) put swiss champions in total command • marek suchý completes second home victory from as many matches (65) • next games: basel v real madrid, ludogorets v liverpool (26 november)
teenage forward breel embolo scored his first uefa champions league goal to set fc basel 1893 on their way to a resounding group b win against pfc ludogorets razgrad.
embolo might have featured in the uefa youth league game between the two sides earlier in the day, but he proved he fully deserved his place among the big boys with a central role in basel's second victory. the 17-year-old put the swiss champions ahead on 34 minutes and also teed up shkelzen gashi for basel's third just before the hour. paulo sousa's team, whose other goals came from derlis gonzalez and marek suchý, now have a three-point cushion in second place.
a promising break down the right from gonzalez in the opening couple of minutes suggested basel were minded to quickly make amends for their morale-sapping late loss in bulgaria two weeks ago. however, the paraguayan's burst was followed only by a mohamed elneny attempt dragged across goal in a first half-hour the hosts dominated territorially, but in which they offered little tangible threat.
that was due to the lack of a quality final ball, a fault which was rectified by fabian frei. the basel captain produced one to find embolo, whose canny first touch and raw strength took him past georgi terziev before his shot, though miscued, found its way beyond vladislav stoyanov.
ıt was a goal the injured marco streller, whom embolo had replaced in a central role up front, would have been proud of. the experienced swiss international would have been glowing still more when frei picked out gonzalez's run in behind the ludogorets back four, and he calmly picked his spot to double basel's advantage.
embolo might have further stretched the lead with a well-struck snap shot that stoyanov palmed aside, but he contributed significantly to gashi doing so soon after. the promising young forward eased onto gonzalez's through ball before squaring firmly for gashi to finish clinically from close range.
suchý prodded in from nearer still as the ludogorets defence struggled to clear a corner to give basel the ideal prelude to their matchday five encounter with section leaders real madrid cf at st. jakob-park.
