Lugano will be looking to bounce back from their Champions League qualification defeat when they visit the St. Jakob-Park to face Basel in round two of the Super League on Saturday.
Having lost each of the three meetings between the sides this year, the Bebbi will head into the weekend looking to get one over the visitors and secure their first win of the campaign.
Match preview
Basel were condemned to a second consecutive Super League opening-day defeat as they were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Lausanne Sport when the two teams squared off last Sunday.
Despite Thierno Barry's brace, the visitors were left empty handed at the Stade de la Tuiliere as Teddy Okou, Fousseni Diabate and Mamadou Kaly Sene all found the back of the net to hand Lausanne all three points.
This followed a solid run of results in pre-season where Fabio Celestini's men picked up two wins and two draws while scoring eight goals and conceding three in their four warm-up games.
Basel come into the new term off the back of a somewhat disappointing 2023-24 campaign, where they picked up 40 points from 33 games in the regular season to drop down to the relegation group.
However, a run of four wins and four draws in their final eight games saw the Bebbi close out the season strong as they finished second in the relegation group table, level on 49 points with first-placed Luzern.
While Basel will be looking to get their season up and running this weekend, next up is the challenge of an opposing side who have won each of their three encounters this year and are unbeaten in seven of their last eight meetings since August 2022.
Lugano were denied a dream start to their hunt for Champions League football as they suffered a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Fenerbahce in the second qualifying round on Tuesday.
In an action-packed contest at the Stockhorn Arena, veteran striker Edin Dzeko continued his red-hot form from pre-season as he netted a hat-trick to inspire the Turkish powerhouse to a thrilling first-leg victory.
Back home, Mattia Croci-Torti's men turned in a resilient team display in their Super League curtain-raiser as they fought back from behind to secure a 2-1 win over Grasshopper Zurich last Saturday.
Grasshopper drew first blood in the 25th minute when Giotto Morandi converted his penalty but Kacper Przybylko restored parity with a 61st-minute strike before Uran Bislimi completed the comeback in the second minute of stoppage time.
Lugano head into the new campaign looking to improve their performance from last season as they finished second in the Super League Championship Round and lost on penalties to Servette in the cup final on June 2.
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Team News
Basel will take to the pitch without the services of Georgian midfielder Gabriel Sigua, who continues his spell on the sidelines through a muscle injury.
Mohamed Drager has been out of action since coming off injured against Stade Lausanne-Ouchy on May 14 and the 28-year-old will also play no part in Saturday's game.
Bislimi has scored in Lugano's opening two games and the Swiss, who finished with 14 goal involvements in the league last season, will be one to keep an eye on.
He should team up with 32-year-old Ousmane Doumbia and former Stuttgart man Anto Grgic at the centre of the park, while Mattia Bottani, Ignacio Aliseda and French forward Yanis Cimignani should retain their roles in attack.
At the defensive end of the pitch, we expect a back four of Mattia Zanotti, Antonios Papadopoulos, Ayman El Wafi and Milton Valenzuela, with 23-year-old Amir Saipi starting between the sticks once again.
Basel possible starting lineup:
Hitz; Barisic, Adjetey, Comas; Kade, Avdullahu, Frei, Schmid; Beney, Barry, Kololli
Lugano possible starting lineup:
Saipi; Zanotti, Papadopoulos, El Wafi, Valenzuela; Doumbia, Grgic, Bislimi; Bottani, Cimignani, Aliseda
We say: Basel 2-2 Lugano
Still licking their wounds from last Tuesday's narrow defeat, Lugano will head into the weekend in search of a morale-boosting result ahead of next week's second-leg clash with Fenerbahce. However, Basel have proven tough to crack at home and we predict that they will do just enough to force a share of the spoils.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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