Basel ready to retaliate

FC Basel 1893 will hope Simon Vukčević's absence will help them overturn a 2-0 UEFA Cup Round of 32 first-leg defeat against Sporting Clube de Portugal.

• The 22-year-old Montenegrin international was the toast of Lisbon in the first leg, scoring in the eighth and 58th minutes before falling awkwardly and being replaced in the 72nd minute. Doctors subsequently revealed that he had sustained a shoulder injury and would be out of action for three weeks.

• That game was Sporting's 200th in UEFA club competition. The 1963/64 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners started their European adventures with a 3-3 draw at home against Yugoslavian side JSD Partizan – now Serbia's FK Partizan – in the European Champion Clubs' Cup on 4 September 1955.

• The victory was also their 50th in 102 UEFA Cup games.

• Sporting coach Paulo Bento was up against Swiss opposition for the first time since making his European debut as a player in CF Estrela da Amadora's 1990/91 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup tie against Neuchâtel Xamax FC.

• Both legs of that tie ended in 1-1 draws, and with extra time producing no further goals in Switzerland, penalties decided the game. Defensive midfielder Paulo Bento took his side's fourth spot-kick and it proved to be the winner as two Xamax players missed either side of him to give Estrela a 4-3 shoot-out success.

• Sporting qualified for the Round of 32 after finishing third in UEFA Champions League Group F. Basel finished second in UEFA Cup Group D.

• Sporting have now played seven games against Swiss sides, winning three, drawing two and losing two. In three previous games in Switzerland, they have won one, drawn one and lost one.

• The first leg was Basel's first game against Portuguese opponents.

• Basel are unbeaten in their last 13 European home games, and have won eleven of those ties at St-Jakob Park. They have won their last three home games without conceding a goal.

• Basel boast Portuguese talent in the form of winger Carlitos, who was born in Lisbon and played eleven league games for Sporting's local rivals SL Benfica between 2004 and 2007. The former GD Estoril Praia player spent time on loan with Vitória SC and Swiss side FC Sion before joining Basel in the summer.

• The aggregate victors will meet the winners of the tie between Bolton Wanderers FC and Club Atlético de Madrid in the Round of 16 on 6 and 12/13 March, playing the second leg at home.

• Sporting's Anderson Polga is within a booking of a match ban, while Basel can call on Reto Zanni again after he served a one-match suspension during the first leg.

• Winter UEFA Cup registrations
Sporting:
In – Leandro Grimi, Rodrigo Tiuí, Vítor Golas.
Out – Carlos Paredes.
Basel: In – Marko Perović, Beg Ferati.
Out – none.