Chelsea seek to start new home run with Schalke

Chelsea FC lost their proud European home record on matchday one and they will be looking to make Stamford Bridge a fortress again when they take on FC Schalke 04 having won in Gelsenkirchen last time out.

• José Mourinho's team lost 2-1 at home to FC Basel 1893 but have got back on track with two emphatic away wins, 4-0 at FC Steaua Bucureşti and 3-0 at Schalke. Schalke beat Steaua 3-0 at home before winning 1-0 in Basel. 

Previous meetings
• The teams met in the 2007/08 group stage, with Chelsea 2-0 victors in London via goals from Florent Malouda (4) and Didier Drogba (47). The game in Germany ended 0-0.

• The lineups at Stamford Bridge on 24 October 2007 were:
Chelsea: Čech, Ferreira, Alex, Carvalho, Bridge, J Cole (Shevchenko 89), Makelele, Essien (Mikel 70), Lampard, Malouda (Kalou 84), Drogba.
Schalke: Neuer, Rafinha, Westermann, Bordon, Rodríguez (Bajramović 81), Ernst, Jones, Grossmüller (Azaouagh 77) Asamoah (Rakitić 61) Larsen, Løvenkrands.

• The result maintained Chelsea's home record against German visitors which they extended to six games without defeat – winning five and drawing one – in the 2011/12 group stage when beating Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0.

• In only one of those fixtures did their opponents manage to score, the 2004/05 quarter-final when FC Bayern München went down 4-2.

• Chelsea's overall record against Bundesliga opponents is W8 D4 L4. They overcame Bayern in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League final, winning 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in their opponents' own Fußball Arena München stadium to lift the trophy for the first time.

• The sides met again in the UEFA Super Cup in August, Chelsea losing 5-4 on spot kicks after a 2-2 draw at Prague's Stadion Eden.

• Chelsea also defeated German opposition to win the European Cup Winners' Cup final in May 1998, Gianfranco Zola scoring the only goal against VfB Stuttgart in Solna.

• Schalke faced Arsenal FC in last season's group stage, winning 2-0 with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay on target in the final 14 minutes. It was the first time the Gelsenkirchen club had won on English soil, their previous five visits having resulted in four defeats and a draw.

• Schalke went down 4-1 at Manchester United FC in the 2010/11 semi-final second leg, compounding a 2-0 home reverse. In the 1969/70 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final they lost the away leg 5-1 at Manchester City FC after winning 1-0 at home.

Match background
• The Basel defeat was Chelsea's first in 30 home group stage matches since Beşiktaş JK's 2-0 victory on 1 October 2003. The Blues' record in those 29 games was W22 D7. Overall Chelsea were 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.

• Chelsea have finished as winners of their group in seven of their last ten campaigns and qualified for the knockout rounds as runners-up in two of the other years.

• Last year, though, they became the first UEFA Champions League holders to have their title defence ended in the group stage, losing at FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus after a 4-0 victory at FC Nordsjælland.

• They won two games at home, against FC Shakhtar Donetsk (3-2) and FC Nordsjælland (6-1), and drew 2-2 against Juventus. Two away defeats left them third in Group E, although they did go on to beat SL Benfica 2-1 in the UEFA Europa League final in Amsterdam thanks to Branislav Ivanović's header in the last minute of added time.

• 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.

• Mourinho, who has lifted the UEFA Champions League with both FC Porto (2004) and FC Internazionale Milano (2010), is bidding to become the first manager to win the European Cup with three different teams. Only Bob Paisley (Liverpool FC 1977, 1978, 1981) has won the trophy three times as a coach.

• In their fifth group campaign, Schalke were section winners in their past two UEFA Champions League participations.

• Apart from the victory at Arsenal last season, Schalke also won at Olympiacos FC (2-1) and drew 1-1 at Montpellier Hérault SC. In the round of 16 they drew 1-1 at Galatasaray AŞ but then lost 3-2 at home. They have lost just one of their last 12 European away fixtures.

Team ties
• André Schürrle scored for 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in two victories against Schalke between 2009 and 2013 before his move to London this summer. His other six games against the Royal Blues resulted in two draws and four defeats.

• Schürrle is an international colleague of Benedikt Höwedes, Julian Draxler, Dennis Aogo and Roman Neustädter for Germany.

• Substitute Schürrle scored in Germany's 3-2 win over Ramires' Brazil in a Stuttgart friendly on 10 August 2011. Aogo and Höwedes were on the bench for the home team.

• Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Portsmouth FC in the 2010 FA Cup final against Chelsea, losing 1-0. Petr Čech, Ivanović, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard all lined up in opposition.

• Boateng also played for Tottenham Hotspur FC between 2007 and 2010 and with both clubs lost all three games against the Stamford Bridge side.

• Demba Ba scored in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 3-2 win against Schalke on 23 May 2009. In four years with Hoffenheim from 2007 he was unbeaten against Schalke, winning two and drawing two.

• Huntelaar scored as the Netherlands lost 4-2 in a friendly against Belgium in Brussels on 15 August 2012. Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne played for the home team.

• De Bruyne was on loan at SV Werder Bremen in 2012/13, losing both games against Schalke.

• Huntelaar and Marco van Ginkel play together for the Netherlands; John Obi Mikel and Chinedu Obasi are team-mates for Nigeria.

• Mark Schwarzer has German parents and both Australian and German citizenship. He played for 1. FC Dynamo Dresden in 1994/95 and 1. FC Kaiserslautern the following season, making a total of six Bundesliga appearances.