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CSKA Sofia will travel to FC Basel on November 5 in their UEFA Europa League Group E encounter in the hope that they can salvage a result from this tough away clash.

The Sofia Reds are currently bottom of the group with one point, while Basel are top with six, followed by Fulham in second with five and AS Roma in third with four points. The previous match between the Bulgarians and Basel was in Sofia on October 22, which the Reds lost 2-0.

Should CSKA register another defeat in the competition, while, concurrently, Fulham beat Roma away, the Bulgarian side will be out of contention for the further stages of the competition.

CSKA will enter the fray on the back of domestic turmoil, having lost a crunch league encounter on November 2 against Litex Lovech, which also prompted the team’s head coach Lyuboslav Penev to take drastic measures against nine players whom he accused of being responsible for the loss, by partying away the night before the match and breaking curfew.

However, club authorities decided to end the “punishment” of nine players who were reportedly “sacked” three days ago, and said they would be reinstated in the first team after the League Europa clash with Basel.

“We will return all of them, they were just temporarily ousted from the team, but I will have them back,” said club president Dimitar Borissov.

CSKA Sofia and FC Basel had never met in their European history prior to the October 22 encounter in Sofia, which was also Basel’s first ever match Bulgarian opposition, while CSKA’s two previous away trips Switzerland both ended in defeat.

Following this round, the Reds will visit London where they have a date with Fulham while Basel will travel to the Eternal City and take on Roma on December 3 2009.

Kickoff between FC Basel and CSKA Sofia is at 9pm Bulgarian time.

CSKA Sofia bow out to superior FC Basel

Unbeaten in nine home matches in European competitions, CSKA Sofia faced a tough opposition in the form of FC Basel on October 22 2009, and were comfortably outplayed as Alexander Frei scored a brace, one in each half to propel the visitors on top of Group E.

The visitors were menacing on most occasions when they surged forward. The atmosphere at Vassil Levski stadium generated by the red supporters was not going to intimidate them in any way and Basel quickly obtained the initiative on the pitch.

Just 19 minutes into the first half and CSKA Sofia were 1-0 down when Marco Streller allowed a long pass bound for him to reach Frei, who in turn chested the ball and drove it past the advancing Ivan Karadzhov.

CSKA Sofia were then lucky not to concede a second four minutes from time when the Switzerland forward burst through in the penalty area in the 41st minute, beating two defenders, and having done the difficult part of the task, managed to squander it all by shooting wide off the post from several metres.

Second half under way, and the visitors maintained their harassment in style. It was a selfless and desperate defence from substitute Aleksandar Branekov that denied Frei from scoring a second goal on the stroke of the hour mark.

It was apparent, however, that the second goal was only a matter of when and not if, and it did not come too long afterward. Frei rose to meet Carlitos’s cross from the right with a header in the 64^th minute, making it a brace for himself and a comfortable 2-0 away win for his team.

The victory over CSKA left FC Basel with six points in the bag, one more than Fulham and two clear of AS Roma, while CSKA are five adrift. This defeat was the first time CSKA lost a European match at home since the 1-0 defeat inflicted by Hamburger SV in October 2005.