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31.10.2008 10:19
Basel top of the league
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FC Basel, Barça’s Champions League opponents next week, lead the Swiss championship after beating Sion 3-0 in a game brought forward to Thursday evening.
Basel won comfortable at home to Sion on Thursday night at St. Jakob Park, meaning Christian Gross’s side goes top of the Swiss Super League, although FC Zurich could catch up with them when they play BSC YB on Sunday.
Easy win
The Swiss champions only took eight minutes to break the deadlock from a
Parovic free kick. Huggel made it two just before the break, scoring from the penalty spot after
Eduardo had brought down Valentin Stocker. And it was Stocker himself who put victory beyond shadow
of doubt with the third goal for Basel, putting them top of the table on 31 points, three more than
Zurich. With their league commitments out of the way, Basel now have four days to get ready for
their Champions League visit to the Camp Nou on Tuesday.
Shakhtar into last eight
Another side in the same Group C as Barça, Shakhtar Donetsk, made it into the quarter finals of the Ukrainian Cup after winning 4-1 away to Zakarpattya. Mircea Lucescu’s side travels to Sporting Lisbon’s José Alvalade on Tuesday.
Sporting Lisbon on Saturday
Sporting Clube de Portugal will be the last of the four teams in the group to play this
weekend’s fixture. Paulo Bento’s side is away to 13th placed Rio Ave on Saturday night,
the game kicking off at ten in the evening. Sporting are currently fifth in the league, and 10
adrift of surprise pacesetters Nacional. Barça’s group rivals are therefore in need of points
to get back into the Champions League qualification berths.
