Basle went top of Europa League Group E thanks to two goals from Switzerland striker Alexander Frei.

Frei struck in the 20th and 63rd minutes to seal a deserved victory at CSKA Sofia.

The win took Basle top after Fulham and Roma drew 1-1 in London, while CSKA remain bottom of the group.

It was Basle who created the better early chances, Marco Streller drawing a save out of Ivan Karadzhov in the seventh minute.

David Abraham then had a good opportunity to test Karadzhov but headed Antonio Da Silva's corner wide.

At the other end, Kosta Yanev had a volley blocked by Benjamin Huggel while Cagdas Atan got in the way of Todor Yanchev's strike.

The first goal came in the 20th minute, Valentin Stocker setting Frei free from his own half, allowing the Switzerland striker to finish from 12 yards.

Frei could have had a second after 24 minutes but fired over from a similar distance, before sending an effort wide of the right-hand post five minutes from the break.

CSKA were restricted largely to long-range efforts, Yanev and Marquinhos both failing to find the target.

The second half was all Basle, with Stocker the first to shoot, his effort being held by Karadzhov.

Frei then had an effort blocked by Aleksandar Branekov, while Stocker volleyed Behrang Safari's cross over the bar.

Frei grabbed a deserved second after 63 minutes, nodding Carlitos' cross into the top-right corner from 12 yards.

CSKA rallied briefly with Yanev volleying over, but it was Basle who looked the more likely and Frei could have had a hat-trick when he latched onto a Da Silva free-kick, but his weak effort was blocked by Karadzhov.

Basle keeper Massimo Colomba was finally worked in the last 20 minutes, Yordan Todorov and Rui Miguel seeing their shots held.

With 10 minutes to go Streller headed Da Solva's corner over the bar.

Carlitos also fired over, while a wayward Todorov strike was the closest the hosts came to a consolation goal.

Teams:

CSKA Sofia Karadzhov, Vidanov, Kotev (Branekov 46), Ivanov,Minev, Yanchev, Yanev, Todorov,Marquinhos (Vladimir Manchev 65),Ivan Stoyanov (Rui Miguel 55), Michel.

Subs Not Used: Ivaylo Petrov, Timonov, Svetsolav Petrov, Delev.

Booked: Todorov, Branekov.

Basle Colomba, Inkoom, Abraham, Atan, Safari,Carlitos (Shaqiri 88), Huggel, Da Silva, Stocker,Frei (Cabral 81), Streller (Almerares 85).

Subs Not Used: Klaus, Unal, Zanni, Sahin.

Booked: Safari.

Goals: Frei 20, 63.

Att: 17,000

Ref: Manuel de Sousa (Portugal).