European football at the Bridge picks up where it left off last season, with the side from the Swiss border country hosted. Club historian Rick Glanvill and clubs statistician Paul Dutton get ready for another group stage start…
TALKING POINTSCue Handel, shake the flag, remember Munich and dream of a second hug of ol' big ears for Chelsea, a third for manager Jose Mourinho.
The Blues suffered our first defeat in normal time for 15 games at Everton on Saturday, a run stretching back to the FA Cup semi-final against Man City on 14 April. It was the first in the league since Southampton away on 30 March, but resulted largely from a lack of precision in front of goal from the 22 attempts made.
In many ways the Londoners' performance was admirable: fluid passing and movement allied to pressing high up the pitch and regularly forcing errors from a well-drilled Everton back five. Last season the Blues were fortunate to take all three points away from Goodison Park; that's football.
The fixture between this international break and the opening Champions League game is usually a challenging one, but it has been successfully navigated the last three seasons. Manager and players will have learned a lot about each other which will be for the good going forward.
KEY STAT
We have six current international centurions playing for the Blues. They are massively experienced at European level too - only two of the Champions League outfield squad are novices to it. Even of our younger players are veterans of last season's victorious Europa Cup campaign. They beat tonight's opponents Basel home and away to reach the final.
However, as Jose said yesterday, 'There is a big difference between the Champions League and Europa League, and we don't think the Europa League is the best habitat for players who want to be big players.' He intends giving those young 'eggs' free range tonight.
Importantly, that triumph in Amsterdam does position Chelsea as the only English members of an elite group who have won all three major UEFA major club competitions: the Champions League/European Cup (2011/12), the UEFA/Europa Cup (2012/13) and the Cup Winners' Cup (1970/71 and 1997/98). The others are Ajax, Bayern and Juventus.
Mourinho will set aside any bad memories from his most recent Chelsea match in the Champions League: the 1-1 draw to Rosenborg in 2007. He now bids to become the first manager to lift the world's greatest club trophy with a third different club following his successes with Porto (2003/04) and Internazionale (2009/10).
Throughout his last complete group stage at the Bridge, Mourinho's side conceded just one goal, equalling the competition record. He will know the importance of Stamford Bridge as a fortress, with two of the three opponents champions of their country.
Win the three home games and a team is well on the way to the knockout rounds. Two of our group opponents this season, Steaua and Basel, were beaten 3-1 at the Bridge on the route to the Europa League final.
The last five years show that 12 or more points accrued tends to win a Champions League group, while as few as eight have been required to progress as a runner-up.
Chelsea finished third in last season's Group E with 10 last season, largely as a result of squandering a 2-0 lead over Juve in the opening game at the Bridge.
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Which would you most love Chelsea to win again if possible - the Premier League or Champions
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So how have the other Group E teams fared so far this season? Tonight's opponents Basel, presently lying third in defence of their Super League title, have enjoyed three wins on the spin in all competitions, most recently a 1-0 Swiss Cup victory at mid-table fourth tier side Münsingen.
Indifferent early league form included a surprising home defeat by Zurich but they recently registered an impressive win over leaders Young Boys. Basel qualified for the group stage by seeing off Ludogorets of Bulgaria 4-2 away and 2-0 at St Jakob-Park.
Romanian champions Steaua are currently fourth in Liga 1, where confusion reigns resulting from relegations enforced on clubs for financial reasons, then rescinded in court, and unknown quantity Botosani top the table.
Steaua landed in the Champions League for the first time in five years after overcoming Legia Warsaw of Poland 3-3 on away goals.
Our fellow blues from Germany, Schalke, have also found form after a poor start in the Bundesliga, belying their mid-table position by beating Bayer Leverkusen and Mainz - the latter a fortuitous win courtesy of poor opposition finishing and a late strike by summer signing from Milan, Kevin-Prince Boateng.
The Gelsenkirchen side edged out Miroslav Stoch and PAOK 4-3 in the Champions League play-off round.
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