Page "FC Basel" Paragraph 13

When St. Jakob-Park was opened in 2001, success returned.

In 2002, Basel won the double ( Swiss Championship and Swiss Cup ) and reached the final of the UEFA Intertoto Cup.

In the following season, they were the second Swiss team to ever play in the modern Champions League.

Their first game was in the second qualifying round against MŠK Žilina of Slovakia.

They won 4 – 1 on aggregate.

In the next round, they faced Scottish giants Celtic.

In the first leg at Celtic Park, the home side won 3 – 1, but in the second leg at St. Jakob-Park, Basel came away with a famous 2 – 0 victory.

This meant Basel progressed on the away goals rule after a 3 – 3 aggregate draw.

In the first group stage, Basel were drawn into Group B with Valencia CF, Liverpool, and Spartak Moscow.

On Matchday One, Basel defeated Spartak 2 – 0 at home.

Then on Matchday Two, they travelled to Anfield in Liverpool, where they managed to draw 1 – 1 against Liverpool.

After a great start to the group stage, Basel were brought back down to earth when they were defeated 6 – 2 by Valencia at the Estadio Mestalla.

They bounced back, however, and held Valencia to a 2 – 2 draw in the next fixture.

Basel were now sitting in second place in the group but they would still need to win at least one of their last two games and hope that Liverpool would not pick up more than two points to secure that place.

In Matchday Five, Liverpool lost 1 – 0 to Valencia and FCB won 2 – 0 against Spartak at the Luzhniki Stadium.