Match Report - Basel 1 - 0 Chelsea - Chelsea qualify despite late Basel loss

                   

Group E, St Jakob Park – Basel 1 (Salah 87) Chelsea 0

Chelsea scraped through to the knockout stages of the Champions League despite conceding a late Mohamed Salah goal to lose 1-0 at Basel.

Jose Mourinho’s side produced an inept performance and they failed to muster a single shot on goal as Basel dominated for long periods.
But because the other group E match between Steaua Bucharest and Schalke ended 0-0, Chelsea do enough to qualify.

Chelsea put in a strangely subdued performance and looked second best on the night as Petr Cech was called upon to pull off a string of saves in the first half to keep his side in the match. Samuel Eto’o was replaced by Fernando Torres after pulling up with what looked like a serious strain at the end of the first half.
But even the introduction of Eden Hazard in the second half failed to give Mourinho’s men the spark he required.
And when Salah latched onto Schär’s through ball with only three minutes remaining, Basel grabbed a deserved victory that lifts them to second in the table above Schalke with one match remaining against the Germans.
KEY MOMENTS
2’ – CHANCE BASEL: Basel force a free kick and danger man Strellar gets ahead of the defence but can’t get enough on it. Cech reacts well to beat it away.
13’ – CHANCE BASEL: It’s another warning for Chelsea from the set play as Ivanov gets a leg to the corner but Eto’o is well placed on the back post to hack clear.
15’ – CHANCE CHELSEA: A great ball across the face of goal but Eto’o just can’t stretch the extra foot requited to guide the ball home.
15’ – CECH SAVE: Salah lets fly from the edge of the box and the goalkeeper tips it over the bar.
17’ – PENALTY APPEAL: Stoker flicks the ball up in the box and it comes off Lampard’s hand. Big shouts but the referee waves it away.
23’ – CECH SAVE: The ball falls to Salah after some penalty box ping pong and Cech pulls off a tremendous save falling the wrong way to somehow scoop it over the bar.
87’ – GOAL BASEL! Salah latches onto Schär’s long ball ahead of Ivanovic to calmly slot past Cech.
KEY STATS
Mohamed Salah has now scored in each of his last three matches against Chelsea and his first against them at St Jakob Park.
Basel have now lost only once in their eight meetings with English opposition (W3, D4), winning the last three.
That was Basel’s first clean sheet in the Champions league 2013/14.
Chelsea have only failed to score twice in their last 25 Champions League games versus Basel tonight and Juventus in November 2012.