Chelsea v Schalke background

Chelsea FC begin their quest for a second UEFA Champions League crown with the visit of FC Schalke 04, who they beat 3-0 home and away in last season's group stage.

Previous meetings
• The lineups at Stamford Bridge on 6 November 2013 were:
Chelsea: Čech, Ivanović, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Willian, Ramires, Mikel, Schürrle (De Bruyne 78), Oscar (Lampard 81), Eto'o (Ba 77).
Schalke: Hildebrand, Uchida, Höwedes, Matip, Aogo, Jones, Neustädter, Draxler (Clemens 62), Boateng (Kolašinac 77), Fuchs (Meyer 67), Szalai. 

• The teams also met in the 2007/08 group stage, with Chelsea 2-0 victors in London, Didier Drogba scoring the second. The game in Germany ended 0-0.

Match background

Chelsea
• Chelsea's overall record against Bundesliga opponents is W9 D4 L4. They overcame FC Bayern München in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League final, winning 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, but lost 5-4 on spot kicks after a 2-2 draw when they met in the UEFA Super Cup in August 2013.

• The win last November extended Chelsea's home record against German visitors to seven games without defeat (six wins, one draw); they have never lost at home to a Bundesliga club.

• In only one of these home matches did their opponents manage to score: the 2004/05 quarter-final when Bayern were beaten 4-2.

• Chelsea's defeat by FC Basel 1893 a year ago was their first on matchday one after eight wins and three draws. It was also José Mourinho's first reverse on opening night; his ten previous fixtures with FC Porto, Chelsea, FC Internazionale Milano and Real Madrid CF brought him seven wins and three draws.

• It was Chelsea's first loss in 30 home group stage matches since Beşiktaş JK's 2-0 victory on 1 October 2003.

• The 2012 winners made it to last season's semi-finals, where they were beaten by Club Atlético de Madrid 3-1 at home after a 0-0 draw away. After Basel, they won their next four home games in the competition without conceding a goal.

• Chelsea, in their 13th group stage campaign and 12th in a row, have won their section in eight of their last 11 campaigns, qualifying as runners-up in two other years.

• Mourinho lifted the UEFA Champions League with Porto (2004) and Inter (2010) and is bidding to become the first head coach to win the European Cup with three different teams.

• Mourinho has never lost a home game against German opposition (W5 D2).

Schalke
• Schalke's 2-0 win at Arsenal FC in the 2012/13 group stage, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on target, was their first on English soil after four defeats and a draw.

• Last year's Stamford Bridge game was Schalke's only defeat in their last eight away UEFA Champions League group fixtures; they have won four and drawn three of the others. They recorded a win and a draw in their other group away games 12 months ago. 

• The Royal Blues are appearing in their seventh UEFA Champions League group stage foray, reaching the knockout rounds in each of the last four. They were eliminated in last season's round of 16 by eventual winners Real Madrid, losing 3-1 away and 9-2 on aggregate.   

Player links
• André Schürrle scored for 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in two victories against Schalke between 2009 and 2013.

• Schürrle, Benedikt Höwedes, Julian Draxler, Dennis Aogo, Sidney Sam and Roman Neustädter are Germany team-mates. John Obi Mikel and Chinedu Obasi play together for Nigeria.

• Joel Matip scored in Cameroon's 4-1 defeat against Brazil, who fielded Oscar, Willian and Ramires, in this summer's FIFA World Cup group stage. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting also played for Cameroon.

• Höwedes and Draxler featured in Germany's World Cup semi-final victory against a Brazil side also including Ramires, Willian and Oscar, the latter scoring the hosts' goal in a 7-1 defeat. Schürrle scored twice for Germany.

• Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Portsmouth FC in the 2010 FA Cup final against Chelsea, losing 1-0. Petr Čech, Branislav Ivanović and John Terry were in opposition.

• Huntelaar scored in the Netherlands' 4-2 defeat against Eden Hazard's Belgium in a Brussels friendly international on 15 August 2012.

Match facts

Chelsea

• Chelsea have won four out of four in the Premier League this season, scoring 15 goals in the process – their most prolific start to a season since 2010/11.

• Chelsea have lost just one of their last 30 home league games, dating back to January 2013. That came with April's 2-1 defeat by Sunderland AFC.

• Diego Costa passed a late fitness test on Saturday on the hamstring problem that forced him to pull out of the Spain squad to start against Swansea City AFC. He scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win, making it seven goals in four Chelsea appearances since his summer move from Club Atlético de Madrid.

• Costa is only the second player to score in each of his first four Premier League games after Micky Quinn, who achieved the feat for Coventry City FC in 1992.

• Nemanja Matić's goal in the 6-3 victory at Everton FC on 30 August was his first for the club. It took him 22 appearances to get off the mark.

• César Azpilicueta and Thibaut Courtois have both signed new five-year deals this month.

• Gary Cahill has been named England vice-captain and took the armband when Wayne Rooney was substituted during England's friendly draw against Norway and the 2-0 UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying win in Switzerland earlier this month.

• Twenty-six players left Chelsea on loan this summer.

Schalke

• For the first time in 46 years, Schalke have failed to win any of their first four competitive games of a new season.

• Schalke were dumped out of the German Cup by third-tier SG Dynamo Dresden in their season curtain-raiser on 18 August, the visitors losing 2-1.

• The Royal Blues kicked off their league campaign with another 2-1 defeat – this time at Hannover 96 – before a 1-1 draw with champions FC Bayern München that ended a run of seven successive league losses to the Bavarians.

• Schalke managed a solitary point from their opening three league games in 2013/14 before recovering to record their third top-three finish in five seasons.

• Joel Matip picked up a problem with adductors in training on Wednesday and is sidelined along with Jan Kirchhoff, who suffered a knee injury against Bayern.

• Fabian Giefer (adductors), Sead Kolašinac (knee), Felipe Santana (adductors), Leon Goretzka (hamstring) and Jefferson Farfán (knee) are all long-term absentees.

• Atsuto Uchida, who suffered a patella tendon injury at the FIFA World Cup, played 45 minutes on 4 September as Schalke won 6-0 in a friendly against a composite XI made up of players from TSV Steinbach and SSV Langenaubach.

• Benedikt Höwedes, utilised as a makeshift left-back, played every minute of Germany's victorious FIFA World Cup campaign in Brazil. Julian Draxler was also in the squad, making a 15-minute cameo in the 7-1 semi-final win against the hosts.