Basel overcome obdurate Videoton

FC Basel 1893 struck late to see off obdurate Videoton FC 1-0 at St. Jakob-Park and throw UEFA Europa League Group G wide open.

Beaten 2-1 when the sides met in Hungary a fortnight ago, the Swiss champions took revenge and earned their first win in this season's competition courtesy of Marco Streller's 80th-minute effort.

Basel controlled the first half and only Mladen Božović kept Videoton on level terms before the break. The Montenegro goalkeeper twice frustrated Alexander Frei from close range, parrying a header and then blocking the striker's instinctive effort after a Streller knock-down. Those efforts sandwiched his best save of the night, when he turned Streller's point-blank header away with a strong right hand.

Videoton had failed to find the net in five of their previous seven away fixtures in UEFA competition, and that statistic looked unlikely to change after the restart as the visitors focused on suffocating their Swiss rivals.

Having waltzed around Paulo Vinícius, Streller sliced wide when presented with a rare opportunity. However, Murat Yakin's charges persevered with their patient approach and the Basel captain made no mistake when another chance fell his way.

The No9 received Mohamed Salah's pass, held off Vinícius and arrowed an effort inside the left post from just inside the penalty area. It proved a telling blow, and one which pulled Basel to within a point of Paolo Sousa's second-placed side and a win adrift of leaders KRC Genk, who drew 1-1 at Sporting Clube de Portugal in the other game.