It's six years to the day that Jose Mourinho parted company with Chelsea, and tonight, the self-styled "Special One" makes his return to the Champions League as manager of the Londoners. Mourinho will be hoping he hasn't lost his magic touch and that he can take the Blues to their third European final in three years, after they won the Champions and Europa League in 2011/12 and 2012/13. His record in charge of the Blues in Europe is impressive - two semi-final appearances during his first spell in charge at Stamford Bridge - though the feeling is he will have to finally guide this team all the way if his return is to be considered a successful one. Chelsea were the first defending champions to fall at the group stage last season and a repeat of that calamity is unlikely to be tolerated by oligarch owner Roman Abramovich. However, the draw has smiled favourably on Chelsea this season, with Basel, Schalke and Steaua Bucharest joining them in Group E. It is expected that the Blues will come through this group relatively unscathed, and indeed, as Mourinho will testify, the club's owner won't accept anything less. Prediction: Chelsea 2-0 FC Basel
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
