Both VfB and Basel were founded back in 1893, so it was only fitting that the Cannstatt club took on the 20-time Swiss champions as part of the latter’s 125th anniversary celebrations.
The game’s opening goal came shortly after kick-off, David Grözinger inadvertently guiding the ball into his own net following a Basel corner to give the hosts the lead (3’). VfB responded well, though, and drew level in the 28th minute through Santiago Ascacibar’s well-taken effort.
Basel restored their lead just six minutes later when Ricky van Wolfswinkel capitalised on a misplaced pass in midfield before finishing confidently, but Walter’s charges equalised for a second time shortly before the interval. A short corner was played into the path of Marcin Kaminski via Ascacibar and Gonzalo Castro, and the Polish defender stroked home from close range to make it 2-2 (43’). VfB upped the ante in the second half and earned themselves the win when Nicolas Gonzalez finished off a sweeping move with 19 minutes remaining.
Line-up
1 Gregor Kobel (33 Fabian Bredlow, 64')
4 Marc Oliver Kempf (C) (28 Holger Badstuber, 70')
6 Santiago Ascacibar (23 Orel Mangala, 46')
8 Gonzalo Castro (7 Tanguy Coulibaly, 64')
10 Daniel Didavi (22 Nicolas Gonzalez, 64')
15 Pascal Stenzel (11 Anasatasios Donis, 76')
16 Atakan Karazor (36 Luca Mack, 76')
27 Mario Gomez (18 Hamadi Al Ghaddioui, 46')
31 Mateo Klimowicz (9 Sasa Kalajdzic, 46')
35 Marcin Kaminski (17 Maxime Awoudja, 70')
38 David Grözinger (2 Emiliano Insua, 46')
Goals
1-0 David Görzinger (pen.; 3‘), 1-1 Santiago Ascacibar (28'), 2-1 Ricky van Wolfswinkel (34'), 2-2 Marcin Kaminski (43'), 2-3 Nicolas Gonzalez (71')