Danny Murphy has already suffered European heartbreak in Basel – and is determined to exorcise those memories with Fulham in the Europa League this week.
Roy Hodgson’s side need a win in Switzerland this week to clinch a place in the knockout stages of the Europa League. Murphy knows it won’t be easy having endured a Champions’ League exit when Liverpool drew 3-3 at St Jakob-Park in a similarly must-win fixture, with his goal proving academic in the end.
The Fulham captain, who scored against Basel to secure a narrow win at Craven Cottage back in October, explained: “I’ve played in Basel before with Liverpool. I’ve got good and bad memories of it as we went out, but I scored. When we played Basel at the Cottage, thought they were decent, but I wouldn’t say I was overly impressed.
“We had half a team out when we played them and they certainly don’t put the fear of God into us. They don’t have the class or the quality of Roma. But we’ll respect them. These are the types of games you want to play with something big riding on it.”
