Alexander Frei converts a penalty for Basel's third
(Keystone)
FC Basel almost pulled off a stunning win over English champions Manchester United on Tuesday, coming from behind to lead 3-2 until the final minute.
In what the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper called “Basel’s Coup in Old Trafford”, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung “The FC Basel rollercoaster” and tabloid Blick – not disappointing with exaggeration – “the football thriller for eternity”, Ashley Young rescued the hosts with his 89th-minute equaliser.
In the second of six Champions League group matches, Danny Welbeck scored twice in two minutes in the first half for United, who then collapsed after Fabian Frei pulled Basel’s first goal back in the 58th minute.
Alexander Frei (no relation) headed Basel level two minutes later after meeting Fabian Frei’s cross and then put the Swiss champions in front from the penalty spot in the 76th after Antonio Valencia fouled Marco Streller.
But Young levelled with a downward header in the 89th after meeting Nani’s cross.
The draw leaves United winless and with just two points, while Basel are top of the group with four.
“We were careless – it’s a wake-up call in many ways,” United manager Alex Ferguson said.
Basel’s next Champions League match is against Portuguese club Benfica on October 18.
All rights reserved. The content of the website by swissinfo.ch is copyrighted. It is intended for private use only. Any other use of the website content beyond the use stipulated above, particularly the distribution, modification, transmission, storage and copying requires prior written consent of swissinfo.ch. Should you be interested in any such use of the website content, please contact us via contact@swissinfo.ch.
As regards the use for private purposes, it is only permitted to use a hyperlink to specific content, and to place it on your own website or a website of third parties. The swissinfo.ch website content may only be embedded in an ad-free environment without any modifications. Specifically applying to all software, folders, data and their content provided for download by the swissinfo.ch website, a basic, non-exclusive and non-transferable license is granted that is restricted to the one-time downloading and saving of said data on private devices. All other rights remain the property of swissinfo.ch. In particular, any sale or commercial use of these data is prohibited.