Basel backs to wall for Barcelona visit

Beaten in their opening two outings, FC Basel 1893 will hope for third time lucky when they try and take their first Group C points against the team who, on paper at least, represent their toughest test, FC Barcelona.

• Christian Gross's team have misfired thus far on their return to the UEFA Champions League after a five-season absence.

• Following a 2-1 home loss to FC Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 1 – David Abraham's injury-time effort arriving too late to threaten the lead established by first-half goals from Fernandinho and Jadson – they fell to a second defeat against Sporting Clube de Portugal on 1 October. Reto Zanni put the ball into his own net (55) before Derlei sealed Basel's fate with four minutes remaining.

• The Swiss champions have it all to do in this top against bottom contest if they want to retain any realistic hopes of progress in the competition.

• Recent history has shown it is not impossible for a side to recover after losing their opening two matches of the group stage – Olympique Lyonnais managed it last term, FC Internazionale Milano the season before and Werder Bremen in 2005/06 – but only one team has come back after losing their first three and that was Newcastle United FC in 2002/03.

• Josep Guardiola's Barcelona have no such worries after rising swiftly to the summit of the section following wins against first Sporting and then Shakhtar.

• If the victory against Sporting proved straightforward – Rafael Márquez (21), Samuel Eto'o (60) and Xavi Hernández (87) finding the net – the Matchday 2 triumph at Shakhtar was nerve-shredding stuff. Trailing to Ilsinho's 45th-minute opener, Lionel Messi snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by equalising in the 87th minute and then striking the winning goal four minutes into added time.

• This is Barcelona's first meeting with Swiss opposition since the 1968/69 season and a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first-round tie against FC Lugano. The Spanish side came out on top then, winning 1-0 away through a Pedro Zabalza goal en route to a 4-0 aggregate success.

• Barcelona have played three previous matches in Basel, but only one against Swiss opposition. That came in the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup when they took on a City of Basel XI in the first round of the 1958/59 edition. They won 2-1 and finished the tie as 7-3 aggregate winners.

• St. Jakob-Park holds mixed memories for Barça, who played there in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals in both 1968/69 and 1978/79. The first game ended in a 3-2 defeat by ŠK Slovan Bratislava but the Spanish side did get their hands on the trophy ten years later, defeating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-3 after extra time in a gripping final. 

• The Azulgrana visited FC Zürich in the first round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1967/68 and lost 3-1 (agg: 2-3).

• Basel have recorded only one win in ten previous matches against Spanish teams in UEFA club competition.

• That solitary success came at home against RC Deportivo La Coruña in the second group stage of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League, Hakan Yakin scoring the only goal. In the first group stage that same season, Basel drew 2-2 with Valencia CF at St. Jakob-Park thanks to a last-minute equaliser by Ivan Ergić, his second strike of the match. Yet the Swiss side lost both of the games in Spain, succumbing 1-0 at Deportivo and 6-2 in Valencia.

• Their overall home record against visitors from Spain is W1 D2 L2.

• With Grasshopper-Club, Basel coach Gross suffered 2-0 defeats both at home and away against Real Madrid CF in the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League group stage. In his playing days with Grasshoppers, he was in the team that beat Real Zaragoza 2-1 at home in a UEFA Cup second-round tie in 1974/75, but went down 5-0 in the second leg in Spain.

• Barcelona forward Thierry Henry scored twice for France in a 3-1 win against Switzerland at UEFA EURO 2004™. He also featured in the countries' goalless draw at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he lined up alongside Barça defender Eric Abidal and against Switzerland's Basel striker Marco Streller.

• Barcelona coach Guardiola was an unused substitute for Spain when they defeated Switzerland 3-0 in the Round of 16 at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

• The day's other Group C match pits Shakhtar against Sporting.