FC Otelul Galati must win to revive their hopes of third place while FC Basel 1893 are looking to get their qualification hopes back on track when the Group C rivals meet in Bucharest tonight.
With Manchester United FC and SL Benfica in direct opposition in the section’s other encounter, Heiko Vogel’s Basel know that victory against Otelul would lift them level on points with one of that pair should there be a winner at Old Trafford, according to uefa.com.
Otelul sit bottom of Group C, with 0 points, but Dorinel Munteanu’s men have their own motivation – besides the ongoing search for their first UEFA Champions League points, they need a win to revive their hopes of finishing third and gaining entry to the UEFA Europa League.
Having already earned draws at Manchester United and Benfica, Basel should face the game in confident mood as they face a home team still without a goal at the National Arena, Otelul’s base for this maiden UEFA Champions League campaign.
Otelul will hope to repeat the result Basel suffered on their first visit to Romania on matchday one of last season’s UEFA Champions League when CFR 1907 Cluj struck twice in the opening 12 minutes to set up a 2-1 success.
As a Romanian international midfielder, Otelul coach Munteanu met the Switzerland national team twice. He helped his country to a 1-0 home win in EURO ‘92 qualifying in November 1991 but later suffered a 4-1 defeat in the group stage of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Munteanu lined up against Swiss clubs FC Luzern and FC Aarau during his days with 1. FC Koln – earning a draw with the former and victory against the latter in UEFA Intertoto Cup ties in 1995 and 1997 respectively.
Only one member of Otelul’s squad, Sorin Frunza, has played UEFA Champions League football before. He made five appearances, two as a substitute, for FC Unirea Urziceni in the 2009/10 group stage and also featured for Unirea in the UEFA Europa League.
Other games to be played tonight in CL groups: CSKA Moscow – Lille; Trabzonspor – Internazionale; Napoli – Man City; Bayern – Villareal; Real Madrid – Dinamo Zagreb; Lyon – Ajax.
