Basel came from behind to earn a 2-1 win over 10-man Fiorentina in their Europa League group stage opener this evening.
Nikola Kalinic gave the Italian side an early lead when he bundled the ball into the net from close range.
However, Gonzalo Rodriguez was shown a straight red card for a foul on Breel Embolo, and Birkir Bjarnason soon brought the visitors level.
Mohamed Elneny then crashed a long-range drive into the top corner to seal the points for Basel and condemn the Viola to a disappointing start to their European campaign.
Find out how the action unfolded below.
Good evening everyone! A busy week of continental action continues with the start of the Europa League group stage. There are some fascinating ties, and one of the most interesting games pits Italian club Fiorentina against Swiss champions Basel.
The Viola have made a good start to the Serie A season and have won two of their three matches. Their manager Paulo Sousa will be hoping his team can maintain their form in Europe against his old club, who he helped guide to the title last season.
Basel won their sixth Super League title in a row last term and also enjoyed a good run in the Champions League. They have started the defence of their trophy in fine form and have won all eight of their opening league games.
FIORENTINA XI: Sepe, Rodriguez, Astori, Alonso, Roncaglia, Badelj, Valero, Fernandez, Blaszczykowski, Kalinic, Ilicic
BASEL XI: Vaklic, Xhaka, Hoegh, Suchy, Lang, Bjarnason, Elneny, Zuffi, Boetius, Embolo, Janko
FIORENTINA ZAGREB SUBS: Vaclik, M. Lang, Suchy, Hoegh, Zuffi, Bjarnason, Elneny, Xhaka, Boetius, Janko, Embolo
BASEL SUBS: Vailati, Degen, Samuel, Delgado, Kuzmanovic, Calla, Gashi
So, that's how the teams will be lining up this evening. Nikola Kalinic will lead the Fiorentina attack, with Josip Ilicic and Jakub Blaszczykowski joining him in the front three. Meanwhile, Marc Janko and Breel Embolo will supply the danger for the visitors.
Following a tumultuous summer in which Vincenzo Montella was sacked and replaced by Paulo Sousa, things look to be back on track for Fiorentina. They began their campaign with a fine 2-0 win over AC Milan, but slipped to a 3-1 defeat against Torino the following week.
The Viola bounced back with a narrow 1-0 victory over Genoa at the weekend to get back on track ahead of tonight's match. They will be hoping to at least match last season's run in the Europa League, where they beat Roma and Tottenham on their way to the semi-finals, before falling to eventual winners Sevilla.
Despite a change of manger over the summer, Basel have shown no signs of slowing down and new boss Urs Fischer has guided the club to eight straight wins in the Super League, to give them a seven-point lead over nearest rivals Grasshopper.
They will have high hopes of advancing to the knockout stages, with Lech Poznan and Belenenses the other two teams in Group I. They made it to the last 16 of the Champions League last season, after edging Liverpool into third spot in their group. However, it all went wrong in their knockout tie with Porto, as following a 1-1 draw at home, they were thumped 4-0 in Portugal and dumped out of the tournament.
We're now just five minutes away from kick off, and there has already been plenty of action across Europe this evening. Liverpool have just been held to a 1-1 draw by Bordeaux, while Ajax have come from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with Celtic. Elsewhere, Napoli have hammered Club Brugge 5-0 and Borussia Dortmund have emerged 2-1 winners over FC Krasnodar.
KICKOFF! We are underway at the Stadio Artemio Franchi!
GOAL! Fiorentina 1-0 Basel (Nikola Kalinic)
It's taken Fiorentina just three minutes to find the net, but it's once of the scrappiest goals you will ever see. Vaklic fails to deal with a low cross from Ilicic and Kalinic gets there ahead of him. The striker then manages to scramble the ball into the unguarded net to give his side the perfect start to the night.
That goal has really settled Fiorentina down and they are quickly on the hunt for a second. They look full of confidence at the moment and their supporters are making all of the noise.
SHOT! Basel have their first attempt on goal of the evening, but it is not one that will be remembered. Elneny charges into space and gets his shot away from just outside the box, but he mishits the ball completely and trickles comfortably wide of the post.
CLOSE! This is a much better effort from the visitors, who have slowly grown into the match over the past few minutes. Lang almost gets them back in the tie with a cracking low drive from long range that crashes into the side netting, although Sepe looked to have that covered if it was on target.
SHOT! Fernandez is capable of the spectacular and he fancies his chances when he picks the ball up outside the box. He then looks to bend a strike into the top corner, but his powerful effort is well saved by Vaklic, who gathers at the second attempt.
Kalinic has looked lively for Fiorentina this evening and he times his run perfectly to latch onto a pass out wide. He then works the ball onto his right foot and gets away a strike, but it is well blocked before the keeper has a save to make.
Basel almost concede another poor goal, as a long ball forward is flicked towards his own goal by Hoegh. Vaklic was slightly off his line and for a second it looked as if the ball would trickle past him, but the keeper got back quickly to make the stop.
The visitors haven't shown too much threat aside from a couple of long-range efforts, and they been unable to get Embolo in behind. The young striker is highly rated and has already attracted the attention of a number of Europe's biggest clubs in recent months.
Basel are seeing plenty of the ball at the moment, but Fiorentina are looking quite comfortable. The hosts are not coming under too much pressure at the back, and are allowing their opponents to come at them.
CHANCE! Embolo shows his class when he picks the ball up down the left, before driving past two Fiorentina defenders and into the box. He then looks to fire an effort beyond Sepe and into the far corner, but the keeper does well to beat his attempt to safety.
The Swiss champions have really started to come into the match now and they are asking questions of their opponents' defence. Boetius has shown some great touches down the left in recent minutes and only some last-ditch defending stops him from having a clear sight of goal.
YELLOW CARD Xhaka is shown a card for crunching tackle on Valero.
YELLOW CARD! It's another booking, and this time Roncaglia is shown a yellow card for fouling Embolo.
Having just been booked for a challenge on Embolo. Roncaglia is lucky not to be shown another card for catching the Basel man off the ball. There may have been an elbow from the defender, but it is unclear whether the two players collided accidentally.
As we approach half time it's still Basel who are on top, but they have lacked a cutting edge in the final third of the pitch. Fiorentina just haven't kicked on following their great start to the match and Sousa will want to see more from his players after the break.
It doesn't look as if we will see any more goals before the break, with both teams giving the ball away cheaply. There looked to be plenty of goals in this game after the opening few minutes, but it hasn't quite turned out that way.
There will be one minute added on to the end of the first half.
HALF-TIME: Fiorentina 1-0 Basel
Referee Michael Oliver blows the whistle for half time and Fiorentina have held on to take their lead into the break. Nikola Kalinic's scrappy goal is all that separates the teams in this opening group stage match in Florence.
© Getty Images
There hasn't really been too much to get excited about this evening, with Fiorentina unable to push on and score a second goal. Basel have had a few dangerous moments, with Breel Embolo having their best chance of the match.
Let's take a quick look around Europe at some of the other half time results. Tottenham have come from behind to lead Qarabag 2-1, while Anderlecht are 1-0 up against Monaco. Schalke 04 have a 2-0 lead away to APOEL Nicosia and Lazio are beating last year's losing finalists Dnipro 1-0, thanks to a goal from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
RESTART! Fiorentina take the kick off for the second half and get the action back underway.
SUB! The hosts have made a change at the start of the half, with Babacar coming on for Ilicic.
OFF THE POST! Within three minutes of the second half the Viola almost double their lead. Babacar threads a fine pass through to Blaszczykowski, who takes the ball past Vaklic. He is at a tight angle, but still goes for goal, and places his low strike against the outside of the post.
SHOT! Basel have not made the most of their set pieces this evening, but they come close when a corner lands kindly to an unmarked Bjarnason at the back post. The Iceland international then fires in a volley, but it fails to hit the target and Fiorentina eventually clear the ball.
GOAL DISALLOWED! Janko has the ball in the back of the net for the visitors, but his effort is ruled out. The striker had latched onto a deflected strike from Boetius and finished into the top corner, but he was standing in an offside position.
YELLOW CARD! Suchy is handed the first booking of the second half for dragging back Babacar.
CHANCE! The Viola have looked good on the break in this second half and following a quick attack Blaszczykowski is played in down the right. The Pole then stands up a cross for Kalinic, who goes for a spectacular overhead kick, but the striker can only send his effort wide of the target.
Fiorentina could have a real problem here, as Atori is down and receiving treatment after a clash of heads inside the box with Janko. He looks quite dazed and the stretcher is being brought on, so it looks as if the hosts will have to make a substitution.
I thought that Astori's night was over, but the Italian has just made his way back out onto the pitch. Fiorentina did seem to be getting a substitute ready on the bench, but the defender will play on for now.
RED CARD TO FIORENTINA! Fiorentina are going to end the night with 10 men, as Rodriguez is shown a straight red card. He went in with a high tackle on Embolo and the referee had no qualms about sending him off.
SUBS! Just after the red card was shown, Astori went down again and he has now been stretchered off the pitch. He has been replaced by Pasqual, while Tomovic has also come on to replace Fernandez.
GOAL! Fiorentina 1-1 Basel (Birkir Bjarnason)
Basel quickly make their numerical advantage count by levelling the scores. Bjarnason is the man who gets the goal as he is found in space by Zuffi on edge of the box, before he takes a touch and crashes in a low strike that Sepe gets a hand to, but can't keep from ending up in the back of the net.
SUB! First change of the night for the hosts, with Delgado coming on for Boetius.
It's all Basel at the moment and they look like the only side who are going to win this match tonight. Fiorentina were dealt a huge blow by the red card to Rodriguez and the injury to Astori further depleted their defence.
GOAL! Fiorentina 1-2 Basel (Mohamed Elneny)
What a stunning goal this is from Elneny to give Basel the lead. The Egyptian picks the ball up around 25 yards out from goal and gets it out of his feet, before firing a brilliant strike into the top corner that leaves the keeper with absolutely no chance.
Fiorentina are desperately looking for a way back into the match and they win a free kick in a promising area and send plenty of men into the box. However, Basel deal well with the threat and get the ball clear, before another cross from Pasqual heads harmlessly out of play.
YELLOW CARD! Janko is the latest player to be shown a card this evening.
SHOT! Fiorentina have two shouts for a penalty turned down, when Babacar and Kalanic go down inside the box. There didn't seem to be too much in either challenge, and moments later Badelj scuffs an attempt from the edge of the box well wide of the target.
SUB! Basel make another change, with Calla coming on for Janko.
The hosts are still pushing for a late equaliser, but the Basel defence are holding firm. They have really struggled to create chances in this second half and a defeat in their opening group match is now just a few moments away unless something dramatic happens.
There are going to be at least four minutes of stoppage time.
CHANCE! Embolo almost wraps up the win for Basel when he breaks free of the defence and latches onto a pass down the right-hand side of the box. He then fires in a powerful drive from a tight angle, but his strike goes well wide of the post.
FULL-TIME: Fiorentina 1-2 Basel
It's all over at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, where Basel have held on to claim the win in their opening Europa League match. Mohamed Elneny's stunning late goal complete the turnaround, after Gonzalo Rodriguez's straight red card had changed the complexion of the tie.
© Getty Images
That's all we've got time for this evening. Make sure you stick around for all of the reaction to tonight's games and the latest breaking news. We'll have more live action coming up for you soon, but until then, goodnight!
Written by
Alex Meyers
Alex Meyers
