2014–15 FC Basel season
The 2014–15 FC Basel season is the 122nd season in club history and the club's 20th consecutive season in the top flight of Swiss football. Basel are the reigning Swiss Super League champions. They prepared their season with various warm-up matches against teams from Switzerland, Austria and Czech Republic. Their 2014–15 Swiss Super League season began on 19 July with an away game against Aarau. Basel qualified for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, starting in the group stage. They were drawn in Group B against Real Madrid, Liverpool and Ludogorets Razgrad and started on 16 July with an away tie against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. In the first round of the 2014–15 Swiss Cup, played on 23 August 2014, Basel were drawn away against CS Italia. The final was played on 7 June 2015.
Club
Management
Basel's team manager was Paulo Sousa. On 28 May 2014, Basel announced he had signed a three-year contract. His assistants were Ignacio Torreño, Víctor Sánchez and Manuel Cordeiro, all three of which were brought in by Sousa. Massimo Colomba remained the goalkeeper coach. Massimo Ceccaroni was head of the FCB Youth System, while the head coach of the Youth Team was Thomas Häberli.Further information
Overview
Offseason and preseason
At the end of the 2013–14 FC Basel season, four first-team players left the club to continue their careers elsewhere: Yann Sommer to Borussia Mönchengladbach; Valentin Stocker to Hertha BSC; Kay Voser to Fulham; and Admir Seferagić to Schaffhausen. Moreover, David Degen retired from football. Basel's four biggest signings for the beginning of the new season were Tomáš Vaclík from Sparta Prague; Yoichiro Kakitani from Cerezo Osaka; Derlis González from Benfica; and Shkëlzen Gashi from Grasshopper. Also new to the team were Luca Zuffi, who transferred from Thun, and Walter Samuel, who joined from Internazionale on a free transfer.Midseason
During the winter break, two team members transferred to Bundesliga clubs: Serey Dié to VfB Stuttgart and Marcelo Díaz to Hamburger SV. Two further players were loaned out: Naser Aliji to Vaduz from 17 January until 30 June 2015, and Giovanni Sio to Bastia from 1 February until 30 June 2015. In the other direction, on 10 January, Basel announced that left-back Adama Traoré had joined from Vitória de Guimarães, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract.The campaign
Domestic league
Basel's primary objective for the season was to win the Swiss Super League for the sixth-straight year. Basel's 2014–15 Swiss Super League season began well with an away victory on 19 July against Aarau. Basel won their next three matches as well, two at home against Luzern and Zürich and one away against Thun. However, this run was stopped in the fifth round after Basel lost 2–0 at home to St. Gallen, with Albert Bunjaku scoring both goals for the guests. Two further victories, away against Sion in the Stade Tourbillon and at home against Young Boys, were followed by a defeat at the Letzigrund against Grasshopper. At this time, criticism started mounting against new manager Paulo Sousa from the local press, in part due to his continual squad rotation. A home win against Vaduz was followed by a disappointing home draw against Thun and an upsetting defeat against St. Gallen at the AFG Arena. By this time, criticism had risen to its highest, even from the local fan clubs. However, following four wins from the following five league matches, the negative voices slowly changed into a positive direction. In round 17, as league leaders, Basel played the away tie against second-placed Zürich and won 2–1; Shkëlzen Gashi scored both goals. At the end of the first half of the season, Basel, with 41 points, led the league table, eight points ahead of their nearest rivals Zürich and the Young Boys.Domestic cup
Basel's clear aim for the 2014–15 Swiss Cup was to regain the title. In the previous two seasons, they had ended both cup competitions as runners-up. They started in the first round on 23 August with the away tie in Geneva against CS Italien, a team from the 2. Liga. Matías Delgado, Breel Embolo, Fabian Frei and Shkëlzen Gashi scored the goals, in that order, as Basel won 4–0 to proceed into the second round. In the away tie, on 20 September, they also won 4–0 against Winterthur, the first goal being scored by Mohamed Elneny and the other three from Embolo. The third round tie on 29 October saw Basel play away against Wohlen, who were then the Swiss Challenge League leaders. The small Stadion Niedermatten was sold out with over 4,000 fans present, as Yoichiro Kakitani, Giovanni Sio and again Embolo scored the goals as Basel won 3–1. The quarter-finals were played on 4 March 2015 and Basel were drawn with an away match against Münsingen. This was won 6–1 with Kakitani scoring three goals. The semi-final was played at the AFG Arena against St. Gallen on 8 April. Goal scorers were Džengis Čavušević for St. Gallen, Gashi as well as an own goal from Mario Mutsch for Basel as Basel won 3–1. The Final will be played on 7 June 2015 in St. Jakob-Park against Sion.Champions League
Basel entered into the Champions League in the group stage.Their initial aim is to remain in the competition and reach the knockout phase. Basel were drawn into Group B against Real Madrid, Liverpool and Ludogorets Razgrad.
;Real Madrid
Basels first game was on 16 September, the away tie against Real in the stadium Santiago Bernabéu. This first tie turned out very bad for Basel, Marek Suchý with an own goal after just 14 minutes started a bad phase, then Bale, Ronaldo and Rodríguez scored further goals to put Real four goals ahead within just a few minutes. Although González pulled one back soon after, Benzema netted the last and Basel lost 1–5. Despite the fact that Basel had 48% ball possession, they were never really in the game.
;Liverpool
The second tie was on 1 October at home to Liverpool. In front of a full house Streller scored the only goal of the game in the 58th minute and Basel won 1–0. According to the UEFA report Basel had more ball possession, more corners, less offsides, fewer yellow cards, fewer fouls and more passes.
;Ludogorets Razgrad
On 22 October Basel played their third tie away from home against Ludogorets Razgrad. After a good start by Basel, they were up against difficulties as from the 18th minute because Geoffroy Serey Die was shown a red card for a challenge on Cosmin Moţi. Basel fought well and it looked like it would end in a goalless draw until in the 92nd minute as Wanderson slipped a pass to Yordan Minev on the left. The full-back cut inside his marker onto his right foot and drilled at goal low from 20 metres, the ball sliding into the near corner with goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík caught wrongfooted. Ludogorets Razgrad won the game 1–0. At the end of the day, because Liverpool lost at home against Real, three teams were then equal on three points, Basel, Liverpool and Ludogorets Razgrad.
;Ludogorets Razgrad
The return match against Ludogorets Razgrad was on 4 November. Breel Embolo, Derlis González, Shkëlzen Gashi and Marek Suchý scored the goals as Basel played their best game in the Champions League and won 4–0.
;Real Madrid
The return match against Real Madrid was three weeks after the Ludogorets Razgrad game on 26 November. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the match as Real Madrid secured the top position in Group B and maintained their 100% record with the victory against Basel.
;Liverpool
Basel's last game in the group stage was the away tie in Anfield against Liverpool. In second position in the group and with a two-point advantage over the Reds, Basel only needed the draw to secure their first knockout-stage appearance since season 2011/12. Liverpool required all three points to reach the round of 16 for the first time since 2008/09. Fabian Frei scored for Basel after 25 minutes, a low left footed shot, after receiving the pass from Luca Zuffi he fired in from just outside the box. Basel dominated the first half and thoroughly deserved to be in the lead. Liverpool's Lazar Marković was sent off in the 60th minute after he threw his hand into Behrang Safari's face. In the 81st minute Steven Gerrard scored the equalizer from a direct free-kick. But Basel held on until the final whistle and the one all draw saw them advance to the Champions League knockout phase, while Liverpool fell into the UEFA Europa League knockout phase.
Champions League knockout phase
Basel's initial Champions League aim, to remain in the competition and reach the knockout phase was achieved herewith. With the draw to the round of 16 there were indeed hopes that the could reach the next round and the next aim was communicated as reaching the quarterfinals.;Porto
Basel were drawn with the first game at home in the St. Jakob-Park to Porto. It was great atmosphere in the stadium even before the teams emerged from the tunnel. There was a decent-sized pocket of Porto fans, but they did well to make themselves heard. The attendance was a total of 34,464 spectators. Basel started the game well and in the eleventh minute Fabian Frei floated a long ball over the top of the defence and Derlis Gonzalez controlled the ball well, his finish was clever with the outside of his right boot and it's ramped up the noise even further. It was Gonzalez's third Champions League goal of the season. Porto responded and took control of the match, suddenly the game had greater fluidity. Porto had up to 60% ball possession, they created chances, but Basel held on well. Eventually Portos efforts paid off as they were awarded a penalty in the 79' minute, Danilo scored from the spot. It was a precise penalty into the bottom corner to Tomáš Vaclík's right and Porto got the away goal that they so badly wanted. A total of nine yellow cards were given during the match. At the end both teams seemed content to go into the return fixture at 1–1. The furious, physical nature of the game had evaporated somewhat as the game approached the final whistle.
;Porto
Before this second leg, all talk was about how Porto would cope without Jackson Martínez, after their forward and captain was ruled out for "several weeks" with a groin problem. But the second leg in Estádio do Dragão started badly for Basel. Yacine Brahimi superbly executed a free kick in the 14th minute to put Porto one up. Any hopes that Basel had were vanquished soon after half-time as Héctor Herrera made it 2–0, bending in a shot from the edge of the penalty area. Casemiro scored with a wonderful free-kick just a few minutes later. Finally, it was Vincent Aboubakar's fine shot, after he turned around Walter Samuel, before rifling in from over 20 Meters with some 14 minutes left that gave the 4–0 end result. Samuel, who conceded the set piece for the opening goal, ended the evening with another low because he was sent off. The second leg was fairer than the physically aggressive first leg, a total of four yellow cards and one red were shown during the return match.
Basel's Champions League aims ended here, but the Champion League campaign can be described as being a very successful adventure.
Players
First team squad
The following is the list of the Basel first team squad. It also includes players that were in the squad the day the season started on 19 July but subsequently left the club after that date.Out on loan
Transfers summer 2014
In
Out
Transfers winter 2014/15
In
Out
Results and fixtures
Kickoff times are in CETLegend
Friendly matches
Preseason
Winter break
Mid season
Swiss Super League
First half of season
Second half of season
League table
Results summary
Swiss Cup
UEFA Champions League
Group stage
;NotesRound of 16
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 15 December 2014. The first legs of the knockout phase were played on 17, 18, 24 and 25 February, and the second legs played on 10, 11, 17 and 18 March 2015.Porto won 5–1 on aggregate.