Basel Again

Despite APOEL's great performance to win their group, Basel is really the surprise team of the tournament, if you ask me.
In the group stage, APOEL faced a pathetic Shakhtar Donetsk, to which they ended up losing at home, a severely weakened FC Porto, and a russian team; and now they're taking on a Lyon on the decline. Basel, on the other hand, had to fight against a Benfica team clearly better than Porto, at the time, and Manchester United. And Basel had to go against, and beat, Man. U., in the very last match of the group stage, to go through. (APOEL couldn't have done that.)

And Basel did great again today.
They beat Bayern. Sure, it was at home, but it is still impressive for such a small team.

The goal came late, but that was a great play, to set it up.
Valentin Stocker put the ball coolly past Neuer, in the 86th minute, to give the Swiss champions the advantage, after a great pass by Zoua Daogari cut right through the German defense.

Bayern had played better in the second half, after seeing Basel hit the woodwork twice in the first half.

Of course, though, the tie is far from over. And Bayern's prowess on their home field is well-known.

Highlights:

www.todayfoot.com B 1-0 B 22/02/2012 by 123dz