Basel 3-3 Liverpool
Liverpool's second season of Champions League football came to an early end in Switzerland ealier this week, as the Swiss Champions, FC Basel, kept hold of second place in the group to join Valencia in round two.
Houllier's line up included ten of the starting line up from last weekend's draw with Middlesbrough, with Salif Diao on the bench and Smicer back in the eleven who started the game, with the Czech international playing alongside Owen in the Reds' attack.
Liverpool's task was clear. Only a win would see them through to the second phase and both Houllier and his players were in confident mood leading up to the match.
But within 90 seconds of kick-off, Liverpool found themselves a goal down, with Julio Hernan Rossi putting the home side in the lead with the simplest of finishes to a move involving Giminez and Esposito before a cross by Hakan Yakin found Rossi making a run into the box, and the Argentine forward side footed the ball intot he back of the net to put his team ahead with the first attack of the game.
Liverpool came fighting back though, and Emile Heskey almost caught Zuberbuhler out with a fierce drive from 35 yards out, but the 'keeper scrambled across his goal and pushed the ball up onto the crossbar.
It was a rare first half attack by Liverpool though, and Basel looked much more likely to score again. Hakan Yakin forced Dudek into a fine save at full stretch when he bent a free kick towards the near post from 30 yards out. Yakin was also involved in Basel's next attack, and this time the final result was a goal.
Yakin's through ball easily cut open the Reds' defence and Giminez ran onto the pass, beating Dudek to the ball and slotting home from 15 yards out. After little more than 20 minutes, Basel were already starting to look comfortable, and the fact that Liverpool had to score three goals was playing very much into the hands of Basel, who were taking advantage of any gaps in the Liverpool defence and looking likely to score every time they went forward.
At 2-0 the game looked beyond Liverpool, but by the half hour mark, worse was to come as the Swiss outfit increased their lead further, following a free kick which was foolishly conceded by Hamann from a similar position from which Yakin had gone close earlier in the match. This time the free kick was aimed towards the far corner of Dudek's goal, and after only managing to parry the ball, Dudek could only watch as Atouba raced past the static Liverpool defence to side foot the ball into an almost completely unguarded net.
A shot by Gerrard into a crowded penalty area was flicked towards goal by Owen, and Zuberbuhler somehow managed to get himself in the way of the shot and claim the ball at the second attempt.
Changes were needed at half time if Liverpool were to get back into the game, but Houllier chose only to replace Gerrard with Diao. Diao's impact on the game was huge, with the midfielder involved in almost every attack that Liverpool made in the second half. Ten minutes into the half, Diao set Smicer away down the right, and his cross found Owen unmarked in front of goal, but Owen blazed his shot over the bar.
Minutes later though, Liverpool did finally manage to get the goal which was to give them hope of getting back into the match. Diao again linked up with Smicer, who this time played the ball to Murphy at the endge of the area, and Murphy's shot was placed perfectly in the bottom corner of the net giving Zuberbuhler no chance of making the save, and giving his side a small chance of somehow staging what looked to be an impossible comeback.
But within two minutes of Murphy's goal, a comeback was looking more and more realistic, as Smicer fired a close range shot into the net when he got his foot on the end of a flick on from the edge of the area by Milan Baros.
Liverpool had 26 minutes to score twice more, but it was Dudek who was the next 'keeper to see some action as the Liverpool stopper was called into making a fine stop from a close range shot by Julio Rossi, who was then brought off by Christian Gross, as the Basel coach looked to strengthen his defence to help deal with everything that Liverpool were throwing at his side.
As the game entered the final few minutes, and without a notable shot on goal since pulling the game back to 3-2, it again looked as though Liverpool would be heading out of the competition and with a third defeat from the six group games.
But there was new hope on 84 minutes, when Liverpool were awarded a penalty. Michael Owen broke into the Basel penalty area, and after turning to go past Murat Yakin, he saw the ball blocked by the hand of Yakin and immediately claimed the penalty which the referee was quick to give.
Having already missed two and scored two, the pressure was on Owen, but he saw another poorly struck spot kick saved by Zuberbuhler, though managed to stretch out his right leg and hook the rebound past the Swiss keeper to set up a nervous last few minutes for both sets of fans.
Despite all the efforts though, Liverpool couldnt find a fourth goal, and it was to be the end of the road for Liverpool's Champions League campaign, and the only small consolation was a place in the third round of the UEFA Cup.
Final Group B Standings:
| | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Valencia | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 16 |
| Basel | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 9 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 8 |
| Spartak | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
View match pictures from this game!
