Ahmed Hamoudi made his UEFA Champions League debut as Basel beat Liverpool 1-0 courtesy of a Marco Streller winner.
Both Ahmed Hamoudi and Mohamed El-Nenny featured for most of the game, with the ex-Smouha skipper coming off after 90 minutes, whilst El-Nenny played for the whole game.
Basel: Vaclik; Xhaka, Schar, Suchy, Safari; Embolo, Die, Frei, El-Nenny, Hamoudi; Streller.
Liverpool: Mignolet; Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Enrique; Gerrard, Henderson; Sterling, Coutinho, Markovic; Balotelli.
First-Half:
Both coaches didn’t want to take the risk with their tactical setup in what turned to be a very tactically conservative first-half.
Three minutes into the game Raheem Sterling scored but his goal was ruled out for offside, as well as receiving a yellow card minutes later.
Until the 35th minute, there was no significant attempt on goal from both sides, before Basel threatening as Die trades passes with Streller before forcing a good save out of Mignolet, in what turned to be the half’s best chance.
Second-Half:
The Swiss side started the second-half with very high pace; Ahmed Hamoudi found acres of space before drilling a low shot that was brilliantly turned by Simon Mignolet to a corner.
From the resulting corner, Marco Streller, Basel’s captain and the club’s all-time UEFA Champions League scorer, tapped in the rebound to score Basel’s first goal of the night.
The Reds upped the tempo of their game in hopes of scoring the equaliser; Mario Balotelli almost found the back of the net with a long range free-kick, however, Vaclik managed to parry the ball away.
Minutes later, Sterling was sent through by Balotelli but his heavy touch made him lose control of the ball.
Five minutes to the final whistle, Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard had the chance to equalise for the away side from a free-kick, but Vaclik easy saved the chance.
Two minutes later Mario Balotelli scored for Liverpool, but his goal was rightly ruled out for offside.
Ahmed Hamoudi left the field in the 90th minute to a standing ovation from the Basel faithful as the game ended in a 1-0 win for the Swiss side.
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