Basel: Vaclik, Degen, Schar, Suchy, Safari, Zuffi, Gashi, Frei, Gonzalez, Elneny, Embolo.
Real Madrid: Navas, Varane, Ramos, Coentrao, Arbeloa, Kroos, Rodriguez, Isco, Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale.
Real Madrid scrapped to a lucky win as they pip Basel at St. Jakob-Park 1-0 thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo goal.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men put in a shambles of a show in Basel and deserved to lose or at least drop some points in Switzerland but they were given the gift of all three points by an equally disastrous display by the home side.
Ronaldo scored the solitary goal in 35th minute to save Madrid from the blushes. Benzema created the perfect opportunity for the Portuguese winger as he tapped the ball in from two yards. Although he scored the goal, Ronaldo too wasn’t particularly good at the night just like his fellow teammates.
Real looked shaky in defence as Basel continually threatened them but their woeful finishing did them no favours as Keylor Navas made a decent start to his Champions League career with Los Blancos. If Real were awful at the back they were shambolic at the front as the Merengues failed to get past that Basel defense less often than their counterparts who breached their defense.
Despite all this, Madrid walk away with all three points as Ancelotti can now focus on his side’s Liga fixtures as they have qualified for the next round as the group winners.
.jpg "gfa(3)")
.jpg "League")