Friday, 20 September 2013 00:00
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Reuters: Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea with the prime aim of winning the Champions League but his campaign got off to the worst possible start when the 2012 winners suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat by Basel in their first match on Wednesday.
Chelsea, beaten in the Premier League by Everton on Saturday, looked short of ideas all night in a stuttering display, though they led 1-0 following a neat finish by Oscar just before halftime.
The Brazilian hit the bar soon after the restart as Chelsea briefly turned on the style but they were never able to take complete control and Mohamed Salah equalised in the 71st minute.
Swiss champions Basel, beaten by Chelsea in the Europa League semi-finals last season, grew in confidence and completed their smash and grab raid nine minutes from time when captain and centre forward Marco Streller cleverly glanced in a near-post header from a corner.
It was Chelsea’s first home defeat in the Champions League group stage in 30 matches, dating back to a 2-0 loss to Besiktas in October 2003.
Chelsea, European champions in 2012, drew their first home Champions League game last season, 2-2 with Juventus, to set the tone for a scrappy campaign in which they failed to progress to the knockout stage.
