Basel reunion is Mourinho's first Chelsea test

José Mourinho's return to the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea FC comes as his side quickly renew acquaintance with FC Basel 1893.

• The teams met in last season's UEFA Europa League semi-finals, the London club winning 5-2 on aggregate on their way to lifting the trophy.

Previous meetings
• Last season's games were the first competitive encounters between the sides. In the Switzerland first leg, David Luiz's stoppage-time free-kick earned Chelsea a 2-1 advantage after Fabian Schär's late penalty had cancelled out Victor Moses' first-half opener.

• In the second leg Chelsea scored three goals in ten second-half minutes, through Fernando Torres, Moses and Luiz again, after Mohamed Salah had brought Basel level on aggregate on the stroke of half-time. Basel were thus denied becoming the first Swiss side to make it to the final of a major UEFA club tournament.

• The teams at Stamford Bridge on 2 May were:
Chelsea: Čech, Ivanović, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Bertrand, Luiz (Aké 82), Ramires (Oscar 66), Lampard, Moses, Hazard (Mata 75), Torres.
Basel: Sommer, Voser, Schär, Sauro, Steinhöfer, F Frei, Stocker (Soua 62), Elneny, Salah, Die, Streller (D Degen 62).

• In their only previous Swiss assignment, Chelsea lost to FC St Gallen in the first round of the 2000/01 UEFA Cup. They won 1-0 at home but went down 2-0 in Zurich, when John Terry was an unused substitute.

• Basel eliminated Tottenham Hotspur FC in last season's UEFA Europa League quarter-finals, prevailing 4-1 on spot kicks after two 2-2 draws, but have never won in England. Their record against English teams reads W3 D7 L10: in England it is W0 D4 L6.

Match background
• After defeating Basel, Chelsea went on to beat SL Benfica 2-1 in the Amsterdam final thanks to Branislav Ivanović's header in the last minute of added time. Torres had fired Rafael Benítez's side ahead on the hour with Óscar Cardozo equalising from the spot.

• With their win in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League, Chelsea thus became the first side to win UEFA's two top club competitions in reverse order in successive seasons. They also became only the fourth side to win all three of UEFA's major club competitions having also won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1970/71 and 1997/98.

• The Blues have finished as group winners in seven of their last ten campaigns, qualifying for the knockout rounds as runners-up in two of the other years. Last year, however, they became the first UEFA Champions League holders to have their title defence ended in the group stage.

• Although they won two games at home and drew the other, defeats at FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus left them third in Group E. They began with a 2-2 home draw with Juve, maintaing their unbeaten matchday one record of eight wins and three draws.

• Mourinho, who has lifted the trophy with both FC Porto (2004) and FC Internazionale Milano (2010) and is bidding to become the first manager to win the European Cup with three different teams, is also defending an unbeaten matchday one record in his 11th consecutive UEFA Champions League campaign. With Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid CF, his teams have recorded seven wins and three draws on opening day.

• However, on this date in 2007 Chelsea drew 1-1 at home to Rosenborg BK and Mourinho departed the following day.  

• Chelsea are unbeaten in 13 European fixtures at Stamford Bridge (W11 D2) since a 1-0 reverse against Manchester United FC in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

• In group matches they are unbeaten at home since 1 October 2003 when Beşiktaş JK inflicted a 2-0 defeat. Since then they have won 22 games and drawn seven.

• Swiss champions Basel will be hoping to repeat the start to their last UEFA Champions League campaign two years ago when they beat FC Oţelul Galaţi 2-1 at home. They were unbeaten away in the group, drawing at Manchester United and Benfica and winning at Oţelul.

• In qualifying this season a 4-2 first-leg win at PFC Ludogorets Razgrad set up Basel for their play-off success, a 2-0 win at St. Jakob-Park ensuring their passage to a fifth group stage campaign.

• In the third qualifying round Basel drew 3-3 at Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC having won the home leg 1-0.

• Swiss sides are without a victory in their last 19 competitive visits to England (D6 L12) since FC Luzern triumphed 2-0 at Tottenham in the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Indeed, Switzerland's representatives have won just twice in 30 away matches against English clubs.

Team ties
• Philipp Degen played alongside Fernando Torres at Liverpool FC between 2008 and 2011 but never appeared against Chelsea.

• Basel coach Murat Yakin lost 3-0 with Switzerland against England in a UEFA EURO 2004 group fixture in Coimbra on 17 June. Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Terry featured on the other side.

• On 19 May 2010 Eden Hazard missed a penalty in Belgium's 2-1 friendly win over Ivan Ivanov's Bulgaria.