Basel on guard against Chelsea backlash

Despite losing at home to FC Basel 1893 on matchday one, Chelsea FC travel to Switzerland knowing a draw will be sufficient to book their place in the knockout rounds.

• Although Oscar gave Chelsea the half-time lead at Stamford Bridge, two late goals from Mohamed Salah and Marco Streller provided a flying start to the group campaign for the visitors. It was the first time Basel had won in England and Chelsea's first reverse in 30 home group matches in the competition.

• The Swiss champions then lost at home to FC Schalke 04 before a 1-1 draw at FC Steaua Bucureşti, the return three weeks ago ending the same way after Giovanni Sio's equaliser in added time. It left Basel in third place on five points, one behind Schalke.  

• On matchday two José Mourinho's team won 4-0 in Bucharest and followed that with two 3-0 victories against Schalke to go three points clear in first place, meaning a fourth consecutive win in Basel will make sure of top spot with a game to spare. Indeed, should Schalke fail to beat Steaua in Bucharest, a point would suffice.

Previous meetings
• The teams met in last season's UEFA Europa League semi-final, the first competitive encounter between the sides. In the first leg in Switzerland, 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 return Chelsea scored three goals in ten second-half minutes, through Fernando Torres, Moses and Luiz again, after 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 St. Jakob-Park on 25 April were:
Basel: Sommer, Park, Schär, Steinhöfer, F Frei, Stocker, Elneny (Zoua 65), Salah (D Degen 78), Die (Díaz 61), Streller, P Degen.
Chelsea: Čech, Azpilicueta, Ivanović, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Luiz, Lampard (Oscar 79), Moses, Hazard (Mata 70), Torres.

• Basel have lost four of their ten home fixtures against English opposition with three wins and three draws. Their only victory in their last four home games was a significant one – the 2-1 success over Manchester United FC on matchday six of the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League enabling them to qualify for the knockout rounds at their opponents' expense.

• 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. Their record against English teams overall reads W4 D7 L10.

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

Match background
• Apart from the win over Manchester United two years ago, Basel also beat FC Oţelul Galaţi 2-1 at home and lost 2-0 against SL Benfica. In the round of 16 they beat FC Bayern München 1-0 at home but succumbed 7-0 away.

• This season they won both home games in qualifying for a fifth group stage campaign, 1-0 against Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (4-3 on aggregate) and 2-0 over PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (6-2 on aggregate).

• After defeating Basel last season, Chelsea went on to beat Benfica 2-1 in the UEFA Europa League final in Amsterdam 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, losing at FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus after a 4-0 victory at FC Nordsjælland.

• Mourinho has lifted the UEFA Champions League 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. Only Bob Paisley (Liverpool FC 1977, 1978, 1981) has won the trophy three times as a coach.

Team ties
• Philipp Degen played alongside 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.

• David Degen and Matías Delgado scored past Mark Schwarzer in Basel's 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough FC in the UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg on 30 March 2006; the Swiss side lost the return 4-1.

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

• Ivanov and Bulgaria lost 1-0 to Petr Čech's Czech Republic in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Sofia on 15 October.