Basel on Tuesday needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit from their Champions League round of 16 first-leg match, while the Swiss side are looking to claim another major scalp.

"/> Basel on Tuesday needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit from their Champions League round of 16 first-leg match, while the Swiss side are looking to claim another major scalp.

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BASEL

Giant killers Basel scent Bayern blood

Bayern Munich host FC Basel on Tuesday needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit from their Champions League round of 16 first-leg match, while the Swiss side are looking to claim another major scalp.

Basel ended Manchester United’s involvement in this season’s campaign when they beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s side in Switzerland last December, then proved it was no fluke with victory over Bayern at St Jakob Park stadium three weeks ago.

Although Bayern have a 100 percent home record in three games against Swiss opposition in the Champions League, Basel bring a deserved 1-0 aggregate lead to Munich’s Allianz Arena after Valentin Stocker’s 86th-minute winner.

Having won only five of their 10 matches since Christmas, Bayern enjoyed a confidence-boosting 7-1 hammering of Hoffenheim on Saturday in the Bundesliga, with Germany striker Mario Gomez netting a hat-trick in the rout.

“That will give us a boost. I am confident the squad has that hunger again,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes. “That was important for Tuesday.”

Make no mistake: Bayern’s season will be deemed a failure by their bosses unless they reach the quarter-finals, especially with Munich to host the final on May 19th, and defeat on Tuesday could have profound consequences.

Basel is a very important game for the way the rest of the season will run. We have to do that again against Basel,” Munich president Uli Hoeness told German television channel ZDF after the Hoffenheim win.

While Bayern may have got their swagger back following last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, Basel, under ex-Bayern youth coach Heiko Vogel, are currently dominating Swiss football.

They arrive in Munich on the back of a morale-boosting win after a 2-0 victory at Grasshoppers Zurich over the weekend that put them 12 points clear at the top of the Swiss Super league.

Basel were last beaten in the Swiss league in August and their opening goal in Zurich was scored by future Bayern midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, who will come to Munich at the end of the summer.

Bayern have plenty of experience and are appearing at this stage of the competition for the fourth consecutive campaign, while Basel are in the last 16 of the Champions League for only the second time in their history.

Bayern Munich stars Arjen Robben, Mario Gomez and Jerome Boateng are all nursing knocks, but are expected to play.

Gomez, who netted his 11th hat-trick for the club in the Bundesliga against Hoffenheim, came off after 57 minutes with a cut above his ankle and Robben needed prolonged treatment after scoring twice, but completed the 90 minutes.

Defender Boateng came off in the second half after straining a leg muscle.

Bayern were buoyed, however, by the return of Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger for the final 20 minutes against Hoffenheim, 31 days after he tore ankle ligaments.

“I am glad that I got some time on the pitch, I felt good,” said Schweinsteiger.

“I’m ready (for Basel).”

Bayern’s midfield has lacked authority and purpose without their key playmaker and vice captain.

“For me, it is very important that he is back again,” said Heynckes.

For members

BASEL

Is Basel the best Swiss city for foreigners and Geneva the worst?

Switzerland’s cities usually nab top rankings in international quality of living studies. But in a new survey, only one Swiss town made it to the top 10. Here’s why.

Basel is Switzerland’s best city for international workers. Photo by Nadine Marfurt on Unsplash
Basel is Switzerland’s best city for international workers. Photo by Nadine Marfurt on Unsplash

Basel is ranked in the 9th place out of 57 cities surveyed in the new Expat City Ranking 2021.

Carried out by InterNations, the annual survey rates cities around the world in terms of advantages they offer to foreign nationals who move there for professional reasons.

READ MORE: The best commuter towns if you work in Basel

The survey, which polled 12,420 people for its 2021 edition, ranks cities based on criteria such as Quality of Urban Living, Getting Settled, Urban Work Life, Finance & Housing, and Local Cost of Living, along with their sub-categories.

Of the four Swiss cities analysed in the study — Geneva, Zurich, Basel, and Lausanne — only Basel was highly rated, and is one of only three European cities ranked in the top 10 (the others are Prague, in 7th place, and Madrid in 10th).

This is why

A popular destination for international employees because of its pharmaceutical industry, including giants like Roche and Novartis, Basel ranked well across all categories.

For instance, it is in the 1st place for its public transportation network, in a 2nd position in terms of Quality of Urban Living, and in 3rd for Safety & Politics.

All expats in Basel (100 percent) are satisfied with public transportation, versus 69 percent globally. The public transportation system is excellent”, one respondent said.

Nearly all participants (97 percent) feel safe there, against 84 percent globally. The city also performs well in the Urban Work Life Index (6th), particularly for the state of the local economy, which is in the 1st place and the working hours (8th); additionally,  75 percent are happy with their working hours, compared to 66 percent globally.

More than four in five expats (84 percent) find their disposable household income enough or more than enough to cover their expenses (versus 77 percent globally), and 77 percent are satisfied with their financial situation (against 64 globally).

Where Basel is doing less well is in the  Finance & Housing Index (34th place), though it still ranks ahead of other Swiss cities: Zurich (37th), Lausanne (39th), and Geneva (53rd).

But the city ranks 48th in the Local Cost of Living Index: 69 percent of foreigners living there are dissatisfied with the cost of living, more than double the global average (34 percent).

The Getting Settled Index (39th) is another of Basel’s weak points. Internationals struggle with getting used to the local culture: more than one in four respondents (26 percent) state that they find this difficult — this figure is 18 percent 1globally.

It is worth mentioning that in the 2020 InterNations survey, Basel ranked in the 24th place, so it progressed impressively this year.

What about Geneva?

Switzerland’s most “international” city due to the presence of a number of United Nations agencies and multinational companies, places near the bottom of the ranking, in the 47th place.

“It has the worst results among the Swiss cities included in the report and is the only one that does not rank in the global top 10 of the Quality of Urban Living Index”, InterNations said.

Similar to the other Swiss cities, Geneva ranks among the top 10 for political stability (1st) and in the bottom 10 for the affordability of healthcare (56th). However, it lags behind for all other factors, with expats particularly dissatisfied with the local leisure options (23 percent versus 14 percent globally).

“Interestingly, the comparably low quality of life does not make Geneva any easier to afford: on the contrary, it is the worst-ranking city worldwide in the Local Cost of Living Index (57th) and by far the worst-rated Swiss city in the Finance & Housing Index (53rd)”, the report noted.

It added that “while Geneva comes 26th in the Finance Subcategory, it ranks 55th in the Housing Subcategory, only ahead of Dublin (56th) and Munich (57th). Expats find housing in Geneva unaffordable (87 percent  vs. 39 percent globally) and hard to find (63 percent vs. 23 percent globally).”

READ MORE: Why is Geneva’s rent the highest in Switzerland?

Geneva has a fairly average performance in the Urban Work Life Index (28th) but receives worse results in the Getting Settled Index (43rd). It ends up in the bottom 10 of the Feeling Welcome (52nd), Local Friendliness (50th), and Friends & Socializing (48th) subcategories.

“It is certainly not easy to integrate into the local culture and community,” said one respondent. In fact, 35 percent find the locals generally unfriendly, against 16 percent globally).

The difficulty is making friends in Switzerland is a well-known phenomenon among the international community.

READ MORE: ‘Suspicious of the unknown’: Is it difficult to make friends in Switzerland?

Maybe this is also why they find it hard to get used to the local culture (32 percent versus  18 percent globally) and do not feel at home — 33 percent compared to 19 percent  globally).

Zurich and Lausanne

The two other Swiss cities with a high proportion of international residents fall between the “best” and the “worst”, with Lausanne in the 21st place and Zurich in the 34th.

“All of them rank among the bottom 10 worldwide for the local cost living but among the top 10 for the local quality of life— except for Geneva, which lands in 21st place.”, the survey noted.

This InterNations chart shows how the four the cities are doing in each category. Please click here for a larger version of the chart. 

Image: Internations

You can find out more about each of the four cities from these links. 

READ MORE: Ten things Zurich residents take for granted

Zurich versus Geneva: Six big differences between Switzerland’s two biggest cities

Swiss town ranked the ‘world’s best small city’

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