Sarajevo coach left behind for Basel tie

FK Sarajevo have travelled to Switzerland for their UEFA Cup tie at FC Basel 1893 without coach Husref Musemić after he was suspended for not providing club officials with good enough reasons for his team's poor form.

Winless streak
Musemić was asked to write a report explaining the Bosnia-Herzegovnian champions' run of 55 days without a win in all competitions, which ended with Saturday's 3-0 home defeat of the Premijer Liga's bottom side NK Žepče. Despite that belated success, the coach has been suspended for failing to satisfy the club's directors and Senad Merdanović, Sarajevo's sporting director, has taken temporary charge alongside assistant coach Abdulah Oruč.

Injury list
Sarajevo, who got past Maltese and Belgian opposition before losing to FC Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, trail Basel by 2-1 going into Thursday's UEFA Cup first round second-leg match. Their chances of overturning the deficit are hindered by injuries to six players: goalkeeper Muhamed Alaim, Milos Babić, Muhamed Džakmić, Zdravko Šaraba, Senad Repuh and Damir Hadžić. Striker Almir Turković misses the trip because of his fear of flying.

'Still fighting'
Assistant boss Oruč has issued a pre-match rallying cry nonetheless: "We aren't going to surrender before the game is played. We want to do well in Basle and progress in European competition." Sarajevo's recent results have left them in eleventh place in Bosnia-Herzegovina's 16-team top flight, eight points behind leaders FK Modriča.