Basle 1 Chelsea 0

Gary Cahill has acknowledged Chelsea must improve swiftly after a less than ideal beginning to Jose Mourinho’s second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea 1 Basle 1

Chelsea 1 Basle 2

Chelsea 3 FC Basel 1

Chelsea 3 Basle 1 (5-2 on agg)

EUROPA LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL FIRST LEG

Basle 1 Chelsea 2

Basle 2 Tottenham 2 (Basle win 4-1 on penalties, 4-4 on aggregate)

Tottenham 2 FC Basel 2

ALEX FERGUSON has thrown a cloak of protection around his young players, insisting they will not be “hounded out” of Manchester United despite the Champions League catastrophe in midweek.

Alex Ferguson has today confirmed that Manchester United skipper Nemanja Vidic will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

A WRETCHED 24 hours for Manchester United appears to have got even worse after Nemanja Vidic’s agent claimed the defender ruptured cruciate knee ligaments in Basel on Wednesday night.

Alex Ferguson hit back at former skipper Roy Keane’s damning assessment of Manchester United’s Champions League exit.

MANCHESTER UNITED crashed out of the Champions League following defeat in Basle last night.

Basle 2 Manchester United 1

ALEX FERGUSON has rejected fears that Wayne Rooney may be distracted from Manchester United’s Champions League mission by UEFA’s disciplinary hearing into his three-match international suspension later this week.

ASHLEY YOUNG rescued Manchester United from an embarrassing defeat by Basel in a match which exposed worrying defensive shortcomings for Alex Ferguson’s men.

FT Manchester United 3 Basle 3

Emmanuel Mayuka struck four minutes into injury time as Swiss side Young Boys came back from a goal down to upset reigning Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg 2-1 in their Europa League last 32 first leg clash.

Switzerland 4 Wales 1

FC Basle 2 Fulham 3

Fulham 1 Basle 0

Basle substitute Eren Derdiyok struck seven minutes from time as Barcelona forfeited their 100% record in this season’s Champions League, although the point was enough to book their place in the knockout stages.

STAND-IN strikers Kevin Kuranyi and Mario Gomez led Germany to a 3-1 win over Switzerland in a friendly international last night, but there was bad news for Chelsea as Michael Ballack limped off injured a minute before the break.

Switzerland 0 Ukraine 0 (aet, Ukraine qualify 3-0 on penalties)

Arsenal duo Philippe Senderos and Johan Djourou have been named in Switzerland’s World Cup squad.

THE TURKISH FA has expressed their dismay at comments made by FIFA president Sepp Blatter regarding the violent scenes that marred Wednesday night's World Cup play-off against Switzerland in Istanbul.

World governing body FIFA have launched an investigation into the violent scenes which marred last night’s World Cup play-off between Turkey and Switzerland in Istanbul.

SWITZERLAND held on in Istanbul last night to book their place in next year’s World Cup despite a stunning fight back from Turkey at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.

Ireland’s bogey team Switzerland booked their place in the World Cup finals by edging out Turkey in a dramatic match in Istanbul tonight.

STUTTGART striker Marco Streller looks set to end a year-long absence from international football after being recalled to the Switzerland squad for today’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands.

Bixente Lizarazu returned for France’s final Group B match with Switzerland at the Estadio Cidade de Coimbra as coach Jacques Santini made four changes to the team held 2-2 by Croatia.

Switzerland coach Kobi Kuhn is determined his team will retain their focus on tomorrow’s final Euro 2004 Group B match against table-toppers France - irrespective of the controversy which has surrounded Alexander Frei.

England have been warned to beware of Swiss “spirit and pride” at Euro 2004.

Switzerland midfielder Johann Vogel handed coach Kobi Kuhn a major boost today when he promised that he will be fit for Sunday’s Euro 2004 opener against Croatia.

Switzerland started their preparations for Sunday’s opening Euro 2004 clash with Group B rivals Croatia in earnest today.

ARGUABLY the happiest man in European football this weekend is not even taking his team to the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal.

VFB STUTTGART have finalised the signing of Switzerland playmaker Hakan Yakin from FC Basel ahead of their Champions League home clash with Chelsea on February 23.

Newcastle 1 FC Basle 0 (agg 4-2)

Basle 2 Newcastle 3

DAMIEN DUFF played wide on the right of midfield throughout Ireland's training session yesterday, but it would be foolish to assume that he will fill that role in the match in Basel.