SB Nation UEFA Champions League
Xherdan Shaqiri faces off against his future team when FC Basel takes on Bayern Munich.
Feb 21, 2012 - FC Basel pulled off a spectacular upset of Manchester United to get into the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, and the draw was not kind to them. Basel up against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, and will be massive underdogs in this tie just like in the club's matches against United, where they came away with four points and avoided defeat on both occasions.
Basel did get one piece of good luck, however. Bastian Schweinsteiger is injured and will not play. Luiz Gustavo is having a good season, but Toni Kroos has not been able to play in a deeper role and David Alaba is as inconsistent at 19 years old as he is incredibly talented. Head Coach Jupp Heynckes will likely play Kroos ahead of Alaba and Gustavo, but could opt to bench Alaba for Anatoliy Tymoshchuk if he feels he needs a more experienced body in the middle. They'll be facing a tough matchup against veteran Benjamin Huggel and young star Granit Xhaka.
The biggest storyline coming into this match is that Basel's biggest star, winger Xherdan Shaqiri, is going up against his future team. Bayern has already agreed to buy Shaqiri for €10 million and he will join the team in June. Shaqiri has been one of the hottest properties in football for a couple of years, and it was a bit of a coup for Bayern to get him at such an inexpensive fee.
Defender Daniel Van Buyten is missing for Bayern along with Schweinsteiger. Basel has mostly a first-choice team, but will be without occasional starters/impact substitutes Phillip Degen and Scott Chipperfield.
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. local
Venue: St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland
FC Basel (4-4-2): Yann Sommer; Park Joo-Ho, Aleksandar Dragovic, David Abraham, Markus Steinhöfer; Fabian Frei, Granit Xhaka, Benjamin Huggel, Xherdan Shaqiri; Marco Streller, Alexander Frei
Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1): Manuel Neuer; Phillip Lahm, Holger Badstuber, Jerome Boateng, Rafinha; David Alaba, Luiz Gustavo; Franck Ribery, Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller; Mario Gomez
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