Basel – Steaua

Basel has one of the best teams in their recent history this year, and under much-praised head coach Murat Yakin they are really doing some damage at the top level in football. After easily qualifying to the Champions League group stages, Basel shocked Chelsea with a 2-1 win on Stamford Bridge before losing a close home-battle with Schalke (0-1) and drawing away against today`s opponents Steaua (1-1). The swiss side is currently second in the standings and badly needs a home win against the weakest team in the group today. Basel plays a reactive type of football, with advanced pressing and fast attacking development. They have a reliable defense, a top-class midfield and very fast wingmen. Striker Streller assures experience and heading ability at set-pieces. Basel leads the domestic league, but they only got 2 draws in the last 2 rounds against Zurich and Aarau.

Steaua is a decent team, but they are not really cut out for Champions League level. Last season was fantastic for them, winning the domestic competition by miles and reaching the Europa League last 16 (knocking out Ajax). However, Steaua lost their best three players in the summer break (Rusescu and Chiriches – sold, Chipciu – injured) and their performances this year have been rather poor. While they are still the best team in Romania, they were very poor in Europe, barely qualifying to the Champions League group stages via away goals against Legia Warsaw, and then losing with a 0-7 aggregate against Schalke and Chelsea before drawing with Basel at home (1-1). They are last in the group standings and there is little hope that they could climb up the table. Steaua was unbelievably poor in the last game played over the weekend, barely getting a 1-1 draw with the referees help against 17th placed Corona Brasov, which is basically a semi-amateur team.

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There are two important facts to know regarding Steaua. The first: they are dominating an extremely poor domestic competition, where all the traditional top teams are having financial difficulties. The second: Steaua lost a huge amount of strength compared to last season and they have all sorts of problems at the moment: after losing their best guys, they brought in some poor players over the summer, which are forced in the first team, the coach is changing the tactical system every 2-3 games, the team is at war with the press, there is a very poor atmosphere inside the club and so on. Steaua is playing very poor football right now and they will need to really step it up to at least have a fighting chance today.

Team news & lineups

Both teams are close to full strength. Basel might miss Stocker, who is doubtful, and they will definitely miss Safari. The romanians will be without key defensive midfielder Pintilii. Key winger Chipciu is back from a tibia injury and he will probably feature, but he is far from his best form.

Basel: Sommer – Voser, Ivanov, Xhaka, Ajeti – Delgado, Serey Die – F Frei, Salah, El Nenny – Streller

Steaua: Tatarusanu – Georgievski, Szukala, Gardos, Latovlevici – Filip, Bourceanu – Chipciu, Stanciu, Tanase – Piovaccari

Two weeks ago Steaua earned a late 1-1 home draw against Basel. I picked Steaua not to lose in that game and maybe I was a little lucky to come out with a winning bet. I can say it was a wrong choice from my part. Basel was clearly superior throughout the game but they switched to a defensive approach late in the game and the romanians forced a late equalizer.

Basel is the better team by far and after watching the previous meeting two weeks ago, you really can`t go against the swiss side here. Steaua is in a bad spot at the moment and they are obviously not prepared for Champions League level. Basel also has huge motivation for this one in their quest to qualify for the Champions League R16. Expect the hosts to dominate possession and get a couple of clear goal-scoring chances over the 90 minutes. Steaua will try to hit on the break but they don`t have the required offensive quality to pull something off. I was hoping for better odds and I think this price on Basel has little value, so I will not invest maximum stakes like I was planning to. But I`m confident Basel will take this one. Note that Steaua is very poor on the road in European competitions and they are on a record run of 20 matches without a win in Champions League. My pick is Basel – Steaua Bucharest 2-0.

Pick: Basel
Odds: 1.63 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.04
Event date: 6 November

Editor Facts

• Rostick is 7 for 8 in tips involving Steaua this season