Our prediction for this Europa Conference League match:
A place in the Europa Conference League group stages will be at stake when Hammarby and Basel go head to head at Tele2 Arena on Thursday evening. Hammarby were on the verge of sharing the spoils with Basel at St. Jakob-Park, but the Rotblau eventually scored two late goals to take a two-goal advantage. The Swedish outfit have no other choice but to go all guns blazing at Basel, and seeing that they are a real force to be reckoned with at home, Milos Milojevic’s troops are likely to find the net in the decider.
Both Paulinho and Magyar remain in the recovery room. The Swiss side, on the other hand, will once again rely on Brazil attacker Arthur, who scored a hat-trick in the first leg. Since Basel have been scoring goals for fun in all competitions this season, a lively contest is on the cards at Tele2 Arena.
Highlighted Player (Timm Klose):
After spending his youth career in Swiss clubs BSC Old Boys and FC Basel Timm Klose made his first-team debut for FC Thun during the 2009/2010 Swiss Challenge League campaign. The 193-cm-tall centre-back scored four goals in 59 appearances in the league for the Stockhorn Arena outfit and in May, 2011 he moved to Germany, signing a three-year deal with Nurnberg for a fee of €400,000.
After playing 45 games (league) for der Ruhmreiche Timm Klose joined Wolfsburg and he played for the Wolves from 2013 to 2016. In the winter of 2016 signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with Premier League side Norwich City, but and the end of the season the Canaries dropped to the Championship.
Despite being born in Frankfurt, Germany Timm Klose represents Switzerland on the international stage and it has to be noted that he made his full senior debut for the Swiss national team on August 10, 2011 in a 2-1 win over Liechtenstein. He represented Switzerland at the 2012 Olympics as well.
Highlighted Team (Basel):
One of the most successful football clubs in Switzerland, FC Basel were founded in 1893. The RotBlau as they are referred to by the Swiss play their games at the St. Jacob Park in Basel in front of 37,500 people which is the maximum capacity of the venue.
The 19-time Swiss champions have endured difficult times in 1980s which ultimately led to relegation from the top flight in 1987. FC Basel returned to the top tier of Swiss football in 2000s to win their first league title in 22 years and go on to win it nine more times over 13 seasons since 2002. The golden times for FC Basel brought European inclusion in every season since 1999-2000 with a pinnacle being the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2012-13.
The RotBlau have so far played over 95 UEFA Champions League games, winning almost half of their European outings. The Swiss club has produced plenty of talented players who went on to become prominent footballers all across Europe with Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka being the most outstanding members of the latest generation.