Benfica vs Basle preview - Basle can upset Benfica - Dragovic

Posted Wednesday, November 02, 2011 by PA

Basle defender Aleksandar Dragovic is ignoring the statistics and promising the Swiss side can upset Champions League Group C leaders Benfica in Lisbon on Wednesday night.

Basle head to Portugal third in the group, having lost at home to Benfica 2-0 last time out.

They have only one win from their last seven meetings with Portuguese opposition and are unfavoured for Wednesday's match.

But Dragovic has no plans to roll over at the Estadio da Luz.

"Of course we're not going to Lisbon to lose," he told www.20min.ch. "We are going there to achieve something."

Dragovic pointed to the 3-3 draw Basle recorded against group favourites Manchester United at Old Trafford to suggest they may be better suited to playing away from home.

"We are doing better away from home, because nobody expects anything from us," he said. "After we had the draw in Manchester, and we came home to play Benfica, there were all these expectations on us.

"Now we travel to Portugal as the underdogs and hope that our opposition have underestimated us."

Dragovic believes shutting down Argentinian playmaker Pablo Aimar will be the key to stifling Benfica.

"In the home game, the young player Nicolas Gaitan was the best man on the pitch, but I think if we can eliminate Aimar, who Benfica rely on so much, perhaps they will not be so good," he said.

Basle have been dealt a sizeable blow ahead of the match with the news that captain Marco Streller will miss the clash with a stomach flu.

Although the Switzerland striker might have been fit enough to play some role in the match, it was decided the rest of the squad should not be exposed to the possibility of contracting the illness, and so he has remained at home.

Benfica are not without their problems either as Spanish midfielder Javi Garcia missed training on Tuesday morning with a left leg injury.

Enzo Perez, still recovering from surgery in September, did take some part in the session but is unlikely to feature.

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