FC Basel leave Champions League on low note

Football club FC Basel have ended their group-stage campaign in Uefa's Champions League with a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Sporting Clube de Portugal.

The home side finished at the bottom of the Group C standings with just one point from six games, with Tuesday night’s game a mere formality as FC Basel were already out of the next stage of the competition.

Heavy defeats against Barcelona and the Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk had left the Swiss side hoping to rid themselves of the worst defensive record in the competition this season.

But in the scrappy game at the St Jakob’s Park stadium in Basel on Tuesday, Lisbon’s Yannick Djaló scored the decider in the 19th minute.

After the game, Basel trainer Christian Gross did not comment on speculation about his future at the club but said inexperience had been the main factor behind his team’s disappointing run.

“Today we were able to build up some pressure but we were unconvincing in the final third of the pitch – particularly with set pieces,” Gross told Swiss television.

“This is a new team though which still has to grow together and we must not forget that they are competing here at the highest level,” he said.