Barcelona out to compound Basel's woes

FC Basel 1898 could be forgiven a touch of trepidation when they look ahead to their visit to FC Barcelona given the size of their defeat at home by the Spanish Liga outfit when the teams met on Matchday 3.

• Barcelona tore apart the Swiss champions, inflicting a 5-0 defeat that represents not just the biggest win thus far in this season's competition but was Basel's heaviest home loss in their entire European history.

• Lionel Messi (4), Sergio Busquets (15), Bojan Krkić (22, 46) and Xavi Hernández (48) got the goals that humbled Christian Gross' men and left them bottom of Group C.

• After three straight wins in the section, by contrast, leaders Barcelona know that another victory would put them on the verge of the last 16. They would be sure of qualification if they win and FC Shakhtar Donetsk do not overcome Sporting Clube de Portugal in the section's other fixture while a draw would also be good enough if Sporting defeat their Ukrainian visitors.

• Barcelona opened their campaign with a 3-1 win against Sporting on Matchday 1 before securing a last-gasp 2-1 success at Shakhtar in their second outing.

• After defeats at home by Shakhtar (1-2) and away at Sporting (0-2) prior to their dismantling by Barcelona, Basel will travel to the Camp Nou needing a small miracle to survive in the UEFA Champions League.

• Only one team – Newcastle United FC in 2002/03 – has previously recovered from three opening defeats to qualify for the last 16 and nobody witness to their beating by Barcelona would predict a similar comeback from Gross' team. Three points behind third-placed Shakhtar and a further three adrift of Sporting, they must win in Barcelona to maintain their interest in this season's UEFA Champions League.

• History is not on their side either given that Basel have recorded only one win in eleven previous matches against Spanish teams in UEFA club competition.

• In Spain their record is W0 D1 L4 with their most recent visits, in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League, bringing a 6-2 loss at Valencia CF in the first group stage followed by a 1-0 reverse at RC Deportivo La Coruña in the second group stage.

• 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 3-0 at home and 1-0 away.

• A City of Basel XI made a visit to Camp Nou for an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first-round tie in 1958/59. Barcelona won the match 5-2 to secure a 7-3 aggregate success.

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