Uefa Champions League 2011/12 Season Match Press Kit
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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2011/12 SEASON MATCH PRESS KIT FC Oţelul Galaţi FC Basel 1893 Group C - Matchday 5 National Arena, Bucharest Tuesday 22 November 2011 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Contents Previous meetings.............................................................................................................2 Match background.............................................................................................................3 Match facts........................................................................................................................4 Squad list...........................................................................................................................6 Head coach.......................................................................................................................8 Match officials....................................................................................................................9 Fixtures and results.........................................................................................................10 Match-by-match lineups..................................................................................................12 Competition facts.............................................................................................................13 Team facts.......................................................................................................................14 Legend............................................................................................................................16 FC Oţelul Galaţi - FC Basel 1893 Tuesday 22 November 2011 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) MATCH PRESS KIT National Arena, Bucharest Previous meetings Head to Head UEFA Champions League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 14/09/11 GS FC Basel 1893 - FC Oţelul Galaţi 2-1 Basel F. Frei 39, A. Frei 84(p); Pena 58 Home Away Final Total Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA FC Oţelul Galaţi 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 FC Basel 1893 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 FC Oţelul Galaţi - Record versus clubs from opponents' country None FC Basel 1893 - Record versus clubs from opponents' country UEFA Champions League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers 23/11/10 GS FC Basel 1893 - CFR 1907 Cluj 1-0 Basel Almerares 15 15/09/10 GS CFR 1907 Cluj - FC Basel 1893 2-1 Cluj-Napoca Rada 9, Traoré 12; Stocker 45+2 Record versus clubs from opponents' country Home Away Final Total Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA FC Oţelul Galaţi 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 FC Basel 1893 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 4 3 Last updated 22/11/11 1:28:39CET 2 Previous meetings FC Oţelul Galaţi - FC Basel 1893 Tuesday 22 November 2011 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) MATCH PRESS KIT National Arena, Bucharest Match background FC Basel 1893 visit Romania to take on FC Oţelul Galaţi looking for three points to keep up their pursuit of the top two in Group C. • With Manchester United FC and SL Benfica in direct opposition in the section's other encounter, Heiko Vogel's Basel know that victory against Oţelul would lift them level on points with one of that pair should there be a winner at Old Trafford. • Oţelul sit bottom of Group C but Dorinel Munteanu's men have their own motivation – besides the ongoing search for their first UEFA Champions League points, they need a win to revive their hopes of finishing third and gaining entry to the UEFA Europa League. Match background • Having already earned draws at Manchester United and Benfica, Basel should travel to Bucharest in confident mood as they face a home team still without a goal at the National Arena, Oţelul's base for this maiden UEFA Champions League campaign. • Oţelul may be winless but they can take heart from having run the Swiss title holders close in their matchday one meeting. Back then they were within six minutes of claiming a draw before Alexander Frei's late penalty earned a 2-1 success for a Basel side under the charge of Thorsten Fink. • Oţelul will hope to repeat the result Basel suffered on their first visit to Romania on matchday one of last season's UEFA Champions League when CFR 1907 Cluj struck twice in the opening 12 minutes to set up a 2-1 success. Valentin Stocker got the goal that evening for Basel who won the return 1-0 through Federico Almerares. • This is Basel's fourth UEFA Champions League group stage campaign after previous outings in 2002/03, 2008/09 and 2010/11 but they have not reached the last 16 since their debut appearance nine years ago. • Outside of UEFA Cup qualifying matches and the UEFA Intertoto Cup, Oţelul have only once before participated in a UEFA competition proper. In the 1988/89 UEFA Cup first round, they beat Juventus 1-0 at home but went down 5-0 in the return in Turin. Team ties • As a Romanian international midfielder, Oţelul coach Munteanu met the Switzerland national team twice. He helped his country to a 1-0 home win in EURO '92 qualifying in November 1991 but later suffered a 4-1 defeat in the group stage of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. • Munteanu lined up against Swiss clubs FC Luzern and FC Aarau during his days with 1. FC Köln – earning a draw with the former and victory against the latter in UEFA Intertoto Cup ties in 1995 and 1997 respectively. • Only one member of Oţelul's squad, Sorin Frunză, has played UEFA Champions League football before. He made five appearances, two as a substitute, for FC Unirea Urziceni in the 2009/10 group stage and also featured for Unirea in the UEFA Europa League. • Frunză's Unirea finished third in their group and 25 years after FC Steaua Bucureşti lifted the European Champion Clubs' Cup, no Romanian side has yet managed a top-two finish in a UEFA Champions League group stage – a trend Oţelul have been unable to reverse this term. Last updated 22/11/11 1:28:39CET 3 Match background FC Oţelul Galaţi - FC Basel 1893 Tuesday 22 November 2011 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) MATCH PRESS KIT National Arena, Bucharest Match facts Oţelul UEFA milestones • This is Oţelul's maiden European Cup campaign. UEFA Champions League statistics • Sergiu Costin is suspended for one game, though Milan Perendija is available having served a ban after his matchday three dismissal. Cornel Râpă's next booking will incur a suspension. Latest domestic information • Friday 18 November: FC Oţelul Galaţi 1-0 FC Sportul Studenţesc Bucureşti (Iorga 51) Grahovac; Râpă, Perendija, Costin, Sălăgeanu; Giurgiu, Filip (Paraschiv 69); Antal (Frunză 88), Viglianti, Iorga (Ilie 80); Pena • With Cristian Sârghi serving a suspension, the Galati side sealed their third successive 1-0 league win, and their fifth victory in six games in all competitions; they mustered five in their previous 15 outings this season. • Having scored Oţelul won 1-0 at CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu on 6 November, Laurenţiu Iorga made it two in as many games on Friday. • Friday's win left Oţelul on 24 points from 14 league games this season; this time last term they were top of the table on 32. • Oţelul have mustered just five wins in 11 home matches this season, and four in nine on their travels. • The Galati outfit have lost seven of their last 16 games in all competitions. • Dorinel Munteanu's side have been restricted to 19 goals in 20 outings in all competitions this season. • On 12 November Oţelul lost 1-0 to top-flight rivals FC Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt in a friendly played in Focsani. • On 9 September Oţelul lost 4-0 to CFR 1907 Cluj, their worst home defeat since 5 November 2006 (7-0 v FC Rapid Bucureşti) and worst home or away since an identical loss to FC Vaslui on 13 September 2010. Coupled with a 2-1 reverse at FC Dinamo Bucureşti, it completed their first back-to-back league defeats since August 2009. • Two months after wrapping up their first major trophy Oţelul secured a second on 17 July, Laurenţiu Buş scoring the only goal against Romanian Cup holders FC Steaua Bucureşti in the domestic Super Cup. Injury news • Ionuţ Neagu was rested on Friday after returning from international duty with a leg muscle problem, though Gabriel Giurgiu was in the starting XI after missing the Pandurii win with a stomach problem. • Buş has not featured since 2 October because of a left ankle problem. International duty • Neagu made his international debut on 15 November, starting as Romania beat Greece 3-1 in Altach, Austria. • Râpă was in the Romania side beaten 3-0 by France in UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying on 10 November. Basel UEFA milestones • None UEFA Champions League statistics • Benjamin Huggel is the only player in this season's competition to have collected four yellow cards. • Huggel, Alexander Frei and Marco Streller are within a booking of a ban. Latest domestic information • Saturday 19 November: FC Basel 1893 1-0 BSC Young Boys (Streller 27) Sommer; Steinhöfer, Abraham, Dragović, Park; Shaqiri (F Frei 90+1), Huggel, G Xhaka (Cabral 69), Zoua; A Frei (Chipperfield 84), Streller • Streller's first goal in six league matches secured Basel their 12th win in 16 games in all competitions. Last updated 22/11/11 1:28:39CET 4 Match facts FC Oţelul Galaţi - FC Basel 1893 Tuesday 22 November 2011 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) MATCH PRESS KIT National Arena, Bucharest • Heiko Vogel has 15 points from his first five Super League games in charge; at the same stage predecessors Thorsten Fink and Christian Gross had eight and seven, respectively. • Vogel's first match at the helm was a 5-1 Swiss Cup win at FC Schötz on 15 October following Fink's departure to Hamburger SV. Vogel is expected to remain in the post until at least the end of December. • Alexander Frei has scored 13 goals in his last 13 outings for Basel, including three penalties. • Basel have scored in each of their 16 league matches this season, keeping seven clean sheets. Injury news • Valentin Stocker (knee ligaments, out since 23 April), Gilles Yapi (knee ligaments, 24 July) and Kay Voser (ankle, 17 September) are sidelined.