Basel and Bayern take bullish approach

FC Bayern München may be "clear favourites" but Thorsten Fink believes his FC Basel 1893 side can upset the odds against his former club FC and get off the mark in UEFA Champions League Group E. His counterpart Louis van Gaal, meanwhile, is backing the visitors to get back among the goals as they aim to build on their opening win at home to AS Roma.

Thorsten Fink, Basel coach
If Bayern are not at their best, we have a chance. We have no fear. They are my former club and I am glad they are are a strong team. With this squad, they can win the Champions League again. Bayern are the clear favourites, but in Basel, anything is always possible. I know this is a big game for us. We have to concentrate from the first to the last minute and focus 100%. Against Zürich, we did very well defensively and were very efficient in attack. We must play the same way tomorrow.

For more from Fink, watch our exclusive interview.

Louis van Gaal, Bayern coach
Basel are a good team, they play 4-4-2 and have two good strikers who are dangerous. I hope we can improve tomorrow, get a positive result and produce the same in our next Bundesliga game. I think we have played some good football in the five games in the Bundesliga so far. However, we are not scoring goals and this is our problem. This is something we have to solve and we have an opportunity to do so tomorrow. We are creating chances, we just need to start scoring goals.

It is always difficult when a team has a lot of international players at the World Cup and they cannot take part in a good pre-season preparation. This year was a very extreme case for us. We made our preparations by playing in the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League and that is obviously a bad thing.

At the press conference, Van Gaal confirmed his new contract.

Team news
• Basel
Jacques Zoua has been ruled out for several weeks with a torn thigh muscle suffered on Cameroon duty.

• Bayern
Diego Contento picked up a groin problem in training on Friday and after an operation is out for four to six weeks. Franck Ribéry (ankle) and David Alaba (ankle) are both set to be out for several weeks, while Arjen Robben (thigh) may not see action again until 2011.

Weekend results
25/09/10 FC Zürich 1-4 Basel
(Margairaz 51; Inkoom 10, Streller 44, 67, Stocker 46)
Basel prevailed despite ending the game with nine men following the dismissals of Behrang Safari (61) and Beg Ferati (85). Despite winning just two of their last seven league games, Basel are three points better off than at this stage last season.

25/09/10 Bayern 1-2 1. FSV Mainz 05
(Svensson og 45; Allagui 15, Szalai 77)
Bayern's first ever home defeat by Mainz means they are without a league win at the Fußball Arena München since a 2-1 victory against VfL Wolfsburg on the opening day of the campaign.

Did you know?
Fink was a member of Bayern's first-team squad from 1997 to 2003, winning three Bundesliga titles. He appeared as an 80th-minute substitute in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final loss to Manchester United FC but was not in the party for the 2001 final victory against Valencia CF.

For more information see the match background.