Roma and Basel duel for top billing

AS Roma will look to prolong the race for top spot in UEFA Europa League Group E as FC Basel 1893 come to the Eternal City knowing a win would put them through to the knockout phase.

• Top of the section with nine points, a victory will guarantee Basel qualification. If Roma prevail and Fulham FC lose to PFC CSKA Sofia in the night's other game in the section, both Roma and Basel will progress to the knockout phase.

Previous meetings
• Basel beat Roma 2-0 in Switzerland on Matchday 1 in their second European meeting. Roma had previously beaten Basel 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage.

• The teams for that game on 14 December 2005 were:-
Roma: Curci, Panucci (Chivu, 41), Bovo, Mexès*, Aquilani, Totti*, Taddei*, De Rossi*, Perrotta* (Rosi, 74), Leandro Cufré, Nonda (Mancini, 84).
Basel: Zuberbühler, Chipperfield* (Sterjovski, 65), Malick Ba (Petrić, 46), Müller, Matías Delgado, Degen, Ergić (Kulaksizoglu, 72), Eduardo, Smiljanić, Zanni*, Rossi.

*currently at the club

Match background
• Basel are the only side to have beaten Roma in eight European games this season, with the Giallorossi winning five and drawing two of their other seven fixtures.

• Roma have won their last seven European home games since losing 2-1 to CFR 1907 Cluj in the opening match of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• This is Basel's eleventh European game this season. Thus far, their record in ten 2009/10 fixtures reads W8 D1 L1. Their five away fixtures during the campaign have ended W3 D1 L1.

Team facts
• Despite impressive results in Europe, Luciano Spalletti quit as Roma coach after starting the Serie A season with back-to-back defeats and Claudio Ranieri was installed as his successor. The 58-year-old started his playing career as a defender at Roma – his hometown club – but earned his reputation as a coach with ACF Fiorentina, Valencia CF, Chelsea FC and Juventus, among others.

• Basel changed coach this summer, with Christian Gross leaving after ten seasons to be replaced by former FC Bayern München midfielder Thorsten Fink. Fink started his coaching career with FC Salzburg's amateur side and took command at Basel following a spell in charge of German lower-league outfit FC Ingolstadt 04.

• Fink took on Roma with Karlsruher SC in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup second round, scoring twice as his side won 3-0 in Germany. It was the only time he scored more than once in a UEFA club competition game.

• First-choice Basel goalkeeper and team captain Franco Costanzo will miss the remainder of the group stage after undergoing surgery to resolve a long-term knee problem. "I've been playing in pain for over 18 months," the 29-year-old said. He has been replaced by Stefan Wessels in the Swiss club's squad.

• Roma's Romanian defender Adrian Piţ, who is not on the club's UEFA Europa League squad list, has experience of Swiss football from his time at AC Bellinzona from 2003-07.

• Roma captain Francesco Totti made his UEFA club competition debut against another Swiss club, Neuchâtel Xamax FC, in a UEFA Cup game on 12 September 1995.

• Basel's Alexander Frei is one of six players currently topping the UEFA Europa League top scorers standings with four goals alongside Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Club Bilbao), Óscar Cardozo (SL Benfica), Gervinho (LOSC Lille Métropole) and Luiz Adriano (FC Shakhtar Donetsk).

• Roma's Stefano Okaka Chuka shares an odd record with Basel's Marco Streller: the two strikers have been ruled offside more than anyone else in the UEFA Europa League group stage – nine times each.

• Roma visit CSKA on Matchday 6 in what will be the Italian club's 200th game in UEFA club competition. Basel host Fulham on the same night, 16 December.