Today at 2:45 p.m. ET, FC Basel and Schalke 04 do battle in 2013 UEFA Champions League action live from St. Jakob Park in Switzerland. The game can be live streamed here.
Schalke will take the pitch without midfielder Jermaine Jones, who has been relieved of first-team duties until further notice after he was harshly criticized by Gelsenkirchen club's director of sport Horst Heldt following his performance in the team's 3-3 draw Saturday against Hoffenheim, and was put on hiatus to contemplate what his future might hold with the club.
"It is purely for sporting reasons," Heldt told ESPN. "It is not written in any manual, nor is it part of our training plan that you dribble your way out of the defense when you are the last man."
Heldt knows it will be tough to defeat Basel after the team defeated Chelsea in a shocking upset on the road.
"That result complicates matters in the group somewhat," said Heldt on Sport1.de. "We hadn't really counted on that happening. Now they can take a huge step towards qualifying by beating us and we expect it to be a cauldron there."
After knocking off Steaua Bucharest 3-0, Schalke knows how important a win today could be in regards to helping the team's chances to advance to the final field of 16, and the team is looking for a positive result out of this game.
"We know it will be tough, but we want to get something from the game," striker Adam Szalai told his club's website, according to ESPN. "Basel are a strong side and we saw that with their game in London, but we want to establish a good position going into the coming games in the group."
The excitement of Basel's victory over Chelsea was dampened a bit when the team drew a 2-2 tie with Sion Saturday. Adding to the feeling of disappointment is the knee injury to defender Fabian Schar, whose health remains a question after he left Saturday's game and is questionable for today though tests didn't show any serious damage..
"It all depends on how much pain he is feeling," club doctor Markus Weber told his club's website, via ESPN.
Schalke will move on without Jones while Basel hopes to work around Schar's injury when these two clubs go head-to-head this afternoon.
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