Basel brush aside Celtic

FC Basel 2-0 Celtic FC (3-3 on aggregate, Basel win on away goals)

First-half goals
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg in Glasgow, the Swiss champions got the win they needed through first-half goals from Christian Gimenez and Murat Yakin, and duly became the first Swiss side since Grasshopper-Club in 1996/97 to enter the main stages of Europe's premier club competition.

Set the tone
Basle set the tone from the off. The Scottish champions could have gone a goal down after just three minutes, but for a vital block tackle by Paul Lambert on Ivan Ergic in the penalty area. Four minutes later they were behind, as Hakan Yakin slid the ball through to Gimenez and he shot past the advancing Rab Douglas.

Yakin header
After Henrik Larsson had sent a close-range header straight at Pascal Zuberbühler, the Scottish champions conceded a second in the 22nd minute, Yakin heading in from a Sebastian Barberis corner.

Past the post
Stung into action, Zuberbühler twice did well to keep out headers from Bobo Balde and, after the half-time switch by manager Martin O'Neill from 4-4-2 to a more familiar back three, the visitors created further chances. From a Larsson lay-off Stilian Petrov drilled his right-foot shot inches past the post.

Sigh of relief
Zuberbühler kept out headers from Chris Sutton and John Hartson but it was not all one-way traffic, Basel continuing to look dangerous on the break. However, virtually the whole stadium was left breathing a collective sigh of relief in the dying seconds when Sutton curled a shot just centimetres past the post with the goalkeeper beaten.

'It was not to be'
O'Neill said: "We had an advantage going into the game and we wanted to preserve that in the first 25 minutes. In that period we conceded two goals and we had to abandon the plan. We had to score and I put on a formation that I believed could and would do it but it was not to be."

The adventure begins
For Celtic, European champions in 1967, the UEFA Cup awaits. For Basel, the adventure has only just begun.