A solitary goal by veteran Switzerland striker Marco Streller has given Basel a 1-0 victory against Liverpool in tonight's Champions League Group B clash at St Jakob-Park.
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The Reds were able to get the ball in the home side's net within the first few minutes of the game, but Raheem Sterling was deemed offside just before pouncing on a rebound.
Basel duly grew into the game and soon the Swiss side had Liverpool under the cosh, dominating proceedings in the final third and threatening through Derlis Gonzalez.
Nevertheless, Lazar Markovic was able to launch into a run on the right flank midway through the first half, but Sterling wasn't able to make the most of the Serbian's subsequent pass.
Just after the half-hour mark, Jose Enrique's cross was cleared as far as Jordan Henderson, who fired an effort towards goal that was efficiently blocked.
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Both sides ended the half with several half-chances that failed to truly trouble their opposing goalkeepers.
After the restart, however, the deadlock was broken by the home side, courtesy of veteran Streller.
Neither Martin Skrtel nor Dejan Lovren were able to deal with a corner, which left Simon Mignolet to clear up the danger.
However, the goalkeeper only succeeded in palming the ball back into the six-yard box, allowing the 33-year-old Swiss forward to poke the ball home from close range.
The Reds set about trying to find an equaliser, and on the hour, Mario Balotelli struck a fine free kick that forced a desperate stop from Tomas Vaclik.
Liverpool turned the screw in the latter stages of the game, with Sterling and Markovic unable to do better from close-range shots, but were unable to find the much-needed equaliser.
The result means that Liverpool slip to third in Group B, Basel leapfrogging them into second.
Giuseppe Labellarte
