The second day of the Championship Group could already prove decisive in terms of winning the championship. With its sizeable lead over its pursuers and a stratospheric goal difference (+44) against Servette's +5 and YB's +6, Basel is one step closer to winning its 21st Swiss championship title.
SUNDAY POSSIBLE VERDICT
The Rhineland team will be engaged in Cornaredo on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. while direct opponents will take the field the following day: Servette-YB is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. In the event of winning the three points and a simultaneous defeat or draw by the Geneva team, Shaqiri and his teammates can no longer be caught up.
IN 2017 THERE WAS ALSO STEFFEN
Basel last won the championship in the 2016/2017 season. The team, coached by Urs Fischer, won the title with a 17-point lead over YB. During the season it recorded only two losses and eight draws (two of them in Cornaredo). Also part of that winning group were Renato Steffen, Akanji, Delgado, Zuffi, Balanta and other great players.
ALSO CUP FINALISTS
With 21 titles, Basel would consolidate second place in the history of Swiss soccer behind only GC, which has won 27 championships. Even in the Swiss Cup -where the red-blue will play the final on June 1 against surprising Biel/Bienne- they are second with 13 trophies won and 10 finals lost compared to the grasshoppers' 19 cups and 13 finals.
12 POINT GAP
But back to the current season. The club of David Degen, a former Rhineland player as well as Borussia Mönchengladbach player some 20 years ago, is firmly first in the standings with 64 points (19 wins, 7 draws and 8 losses) with 77 goals to its credit and 33 conceded. Lugano is fourth with 52 points (15-7-12) and a goal balance of 50-47.
BALANCE IN CORNAREDO
Since 2015, the two teams have faced each other 145 times with 60 Basel wins, 42 ties and 43 Ticino successes. More balanced is the situation in the matches played south of the Alps alone (26 local wins, 24 draws and 21 external successes). Of the last four challenges staged in Cornaredo, Lugano has won two, as many draws.
SIX STATEMENTS IN A ROW
The form of the boys coached by Celestini can be described as outstanding. The last six games have all been won with 20 goals scored and only two conceded. A "magic moment" crowning a 2025 in which Basel has had 10 wins, four draws and only two defeats (against YB and Servette).
ONE WIN ON EACH SIDE
There have been three intersections with Lugano this season, with one win on each side and one draw. On the second day the Croci-Torti boys went on to impose themselves at St. Jakob 2-1 (Aliseda and Przybylko). In January in Cornaredo it ended 2-2 (Kevin Carlos, Grgic on a penalty kick, Hajdari and Shaqiri in the final from the penalty spot). A month ago in Basel the hosts won 2-0 (Shaqiri and Soticek) in the famous game of Ajeti's missed sending-off.
AJETI IS BACK IN GOAL
It was precisely the Albanian-born center forward-returning a year ago to Basel from where he left in 2019 for West Ham, then wearing the shirts of Celtig Glasgow, Sturm Graz, and Gaziantep-who scored a brace in the 5-1 victory with which the Rhinelanders cleared Servette on Sunday. It had been several months since Ajeti had failed to score. Now his tally stands at seven goals. Other scorers are Ivorian Traoré, bought for 4.5 million from Nantes, with 11 goals, Kevin Carlos (9), and Nigerian Philip Otele (8). This confirms that in attack the Basel coach is spoiled for choice.
SHAQIRI DRAGGING
But the star and dragger of this Basel is without a shadow of a doubt Xerdan Shaqiri, who will celebrate his 34th birthday on October 10. In the 30 matches played so far in the league he has netted 15 goals and 20 assists. That's quite a haul for a player who has also always distinguished himself with the Swiss national team (31 goals in 125 appearances). Shaqiri does not only score in Switzerland: in fact, he has scored 83 goals in 398 games in the four major European leagues and in MLS. In fact, he has played with Lyon, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Chicago.
LAST YEAR ONLY NINTH
On the bench of Basel sits Fabio Celestini also formerly coach of Lugano. He arrived on the banks of the Rhine in November 2023 after a disastrous start in the last championship (one win in the first eleven days). At the end of the season, the Rhine club failed to qualify for the title round: in fact, it was ranked ninth eight points behind the fateful line.
SATURDAY AT 8:30 P.M. IN CORNAREDO
This year, as mentioned, Basel is redeeming itself in a big way and could make the league, Swiss Cup double. The nearest obstacle is Saturday night's Lugano, fresh off their victory in Lucerne.
