Thursday’s Swiss hosts, Basel, will be in confident mood ahead of their 2nd leg clash with German outfit, Eintracht Frankfurt, having made a strong finish to the Swiss Super League campaign as well as holding a 3-goal advantage prior to this decisive leg.
Basel finished their domestic season with a seven-match unbeaten run in the Super League and although they fell well short of the title-winners, Young Boys, by a significant 14-point margin, the hosts will still be pleased to have fended off the teams below them as they grabbed 3rd place and secured a spot in next season’s Europa League.
But it’s back to business for this season’s competition, and Basel look very well placed to progress to the next round thanks to a resounding 3-0 win away at Frankfurt back in mid-March, which incidentally became Basel’s fourth win on the trot in the competition.
Victories over Trabzonspor along with home and away wins against APOEL started the momentum and at their St-Jakob Park, Basel have also won their last six Europa League ties on the trot.
German visitors, Eintracht Frankfurt, therefore have a mountain to climb if they’re to progress through to the next round as they not only lost 3-0 in the 1st leg but all three goals were conceded to the away side and with the away goals ruling, Eintracht Frankfurt look dead and buried here.
Eintracht Frankfurt also produced a disappointing showing on the domestic front too as the visitors finished in 9th place and four points adrift of 7th placed Wolfsburg who claimed the last Europa League qualifier spot.
Although Frankfurt ended the season with a four-match unbeaten run, it was a case of too little too late despite also winning three of their last four away from home too in the Bundesliga, while results away from home in the Europa League have been inconsistent.
Four wins from their last nine away matches in this competition further confirms that the visitors may struggle against Basel here, especially as two of these four away wins were recorded at Estonian side, Flora Tallinn and Liechtenstein outfit, Vaduz, but the visitors will no doubt be clinging onto their 2-1 win at Arsenal back in November for inspiration ahead of their trip to Switzerland.
Basel look the stronger outfit here and should finish the job with another win in the home leg.