Basel and FC Copenhagen will contest the first leg of their UCL play-off tie at St. Jakob-Park

Basel and FC Copenhagen will contest the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie at St. Jakob-Park on Wednesday night.

The hosts are entering the competition at this stage of the preliminary rounds after winning last season’s Swiss Super League.

Ludovic Magnin’s men have already got their title defence up and running, but it would be fair to say that it’s not been plain sailing so far.

In fact, Basel have come away empty-handed from two of their opening four league games of the season, most recently falling to a 3-1 loss away at Lugano.

As for FC Copenhagen, they have had to negotiate two qualifiers just to reach this stage, defeating Kosovan outfit Drita before claiming an emphatic 5-0 aggregate win over Malmo.

Jacob Neestrup’s side have also taken early control of the Danish Superliga, leading the way after winning four of their opening five matches of the new season.

Basel and FC Copenhagen will cross paths for the first time ever on Wednesday night before reconvening for next week’s return match in the Danish capital.

Predicted line-ups
As has been the case during the opening weeks of the new season, Basel boss Magnin will once again be unable to call upon the services of injured duo Finn van Breemen and Kevin Ruegg.

FC Copenhagen’s Elias Achouri looks set for a spell on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury while experienced midfielder Thomas Delaney is rated as doubtful for this week’s first leg in Switzerland.

Basel: Hitz; Schmid, Vujo, Adjetei, Tsunemoto; Leroy, Metinho, Otele, Shaqiri, Traore; Ajeti.

FC Copenhagen: Kotarski; Lopez, Hatzidiakos, Pereira, Huescas; Silva, Elyounoussi, Lerager, Mattsson, Larsson; Cornelius.