“Pathetic” Basel stunned by record 7-0 rout

Basel FC have been left red-faced by a humiliating 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich that saw them crash out of the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Switzerland’s sole representative in the prestigious tournament went into the second leg of the tie with high hopes, having beaten their heavyweight opponents 1-0 at home last month.

Basel had reached the knock-out round by defeating Manchester United in the earlier group stages, but their giant-killing act was ended in emphatic fashion by a star-studded Munich side.

The 7-0 scoreline was the biggest ever defeat inflicted on a team in the knock-out stages of the tournament and the second worst hiding in Champions League history.

“I suffered for 90 minutes,” said Basel FC coach Heiko Vogel after the game. “We can learn an awful lot from such a defeat.”

Basel striker Marco Streller refused to be completely downcast after the game, pointing out that his side had defied most expectations by even reaching that far in the Champions League.

“Sometimes there are days when you get rightly lambasted. Unfortunately that is today,” he said. “But we won’t allow ourselves to talk down what we have achieved over the last few months. We will bounce back.”

But Basel will have to do that without star player Xherdan Shaqiri next season, who will be joining the very same Bayern Munich after the summer break.

The Basler Zeitung newspaper described the match as “an evening to forget”.

The Blick tabloid was even more scathing, describing Basel FC as “fearful”, “apathetic” and “inferior”. “The dream turned into a nightmare. Pathetic!” was the editorial comment.