Benfica hope Lisbon lights will dazzle Basel

FC Basel 1893 will look to make amends for their home loss to SL Benfica when the sides meet again on matchday four – but the Portuguese club's home record suggests they may not find it easy.

• Group C leaders Benfica's 2-0 win at St. Jakob-Park in the third round of games took the shine off Basel's promising start and means the home side will secure their last-16 place if they inflict a second defeat on the Swiss champions and second-placed Manchester United FC overcome FC Oţelul Galaţi in the section's other fixture. For Basel, a point behind United in third, another defeat would be a big blow to their own hopes of progress.

Match background
• Benfica welcome Basel looking to continue their fine home form in Europe, with just one defeat from their last 17 matches in UEFA club competition from 2009/10 onwards. Jorge Jesus's men have won 14 games in that sequence although their 1-1 draw with Manchester United FC on matchday one ended a run of six straight victories.

• In Basel's first away game in Group C, they were just moments away from recording a first victory on English soil when Ashley Young headed Manchester United FC's equaliser in an exciting 3-3 draw. The Swiss side won three of six away games in Europe last season – albeit their record on the road on the UEFA Champions League group stage was won one, lost two.

• Thorsten Fink was in charge of Basel for their opening win against Oţelul and the subsequent draw at Old Trafford. He departed for Hamburger SV subsequently, and was replaced by his former assistant Heiko Vogel.

• Benfica are unbeaten against Swiss opposition, having recorded a home win and away draw against both FC La Chaux-de-Fonds in the 1964/65 European Champion Clubs' Cup and FC Zürich in the 1982/83 UEFA Cup. Benfica assistant coach Minervino Pietra played in both ties against Zürich.

• Basel have won just one of seven matches against sides from Portugal, losing five. Valentin Stocker was on target in that solitary success – a 2-1 success against Vitória SC in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, which secured their progress after a goalless draw in Portugal.

• Basel's other encounters with Portuguese opposition were against Sporting Clube de Portugal and ended unhappily. They suffered home and away losses to Benfica's local rivals in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32 and again in the following season's UEFA Champions League group stage, going down 2-0 in Lisbon on both occasions.

Team ties
• Axel Witsel scored both Belgium goals in a 2-0 victory away to an Austria side including Aleksandar Dragović in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in March.

• Maxi Pereira tasted victory on Swiss soil when helping Uruguay beat Switzerland 3-1 in St Gallen in a March 2010 friendly that featured Xherdan Shaqiri and Marco Streller for the Nati.

• Luisão scored the opening goal when Brazil won 2-1 at St. Jakob-Park in a November 2006 friendly against Alexander Frei and Streller's Switzerland.

• Alexander Frei lined up against Pablo Aimar when his Servette FC side took on Valencia CF in the round of 16 of the 2001/02 UEFA Cup. Aimar scored in Valencia's 3-0 home win when Frei appeared as a substitute. The latter found the net in the 2-2 second-leg draw in Switzerland, with Aimar absent.

• Aimar and Javier Saviola faced Benjamin Huggel and Streller as substitutes in Argentina's 1-1 friendly draw with Switzerland in Basel in June 2007. The pair had earlier helped their country beat Scott Chipperfield's Australia 4-2 at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

• Benfica's Portuguese Under-21 international Roderick Miranda is currently on loan at Servette, the Swiss club coached by Eagles old boy João Alves.