CHELSEA fell to a Champions League group stage home defeat for the first time in 30 matches on a shocker of a night for Jose Mourinho.
Six years ago to the day when Mourinho saw his men struggle to a dire 1-1 draw with Norwegian minnows Rosenborg, the Blues made that result look good in this opening Group E game.
Two days after the Rosenborg upset - watched by fewer than 25,000 at Stamford Bridge - Mourinho parted company with the west Londoners.
Wrong There is no suggestion, of course, something similar will happen tomorrow, but just six games into the second coming of The Special One, something already looks very wrong at Chelsea.
In their last four games, Chelsea have lost to Basel and Everton and also to Bayern Munich in a UEFA Super Cup penalty shoot-out, with a goalless draw at Manchester United the only positive.
Mourinho wanted to sign United's Wayne Rooney this summer, and you can see why, because his team lack a top-class striker.
Oscar gave the Blues the lead in the 45th minute before Mohamed Salah and Marco Streller stunned Stamford Bridge with goals in the final 20 minutes to complete a remarkable turnaround.
Roman Abramovich, who made up with Mourinho to invite him back to the Bridge, was spotted shaking his head after the final whistle. Mourinho was down the tunnel almost as quickly as Egyptian winger Salah, who also scored at the Bridge last season in a 3-1 Europa League semi-final defeat, when Chelsea ran out 5-2 winners on aggregate.
Brazilian midfielder Oscar has two goals, and is leading scorer - with the only forward to have netted this season being Fernando Torres, in the Bayern match.
Dig You have to go back 30 matches to October 2003 for Chelsea's last group stage home defeat, to Besiktas, who won 2-0. On the eve of this match, Mourinho had talked about hatching the eggs in his squad, after laughing at a reminder of how he had moaned six years ago about not being able to buy the Grade A ones at Waitrose.
At the time, it had been a dig at Abramovich for not allowing him to buy big and although the Russian did sanction the £30m arrival of midfielder Willian, you sensed the capture of Samuel Eto'o - when the Rooney deal did not come off - was not what Mourinho was after.
Certainly, the Portuguese coach was left with egg on his face as his men cracked against the unfancied Swiss champions.
It was a pretty dire opening, but Chelsea did go ahead just before halftime with their first shot on target. David Luiz found skipper Frank Lampard, who rolled it into the box for Oscar to drill a low shot across Yann Sommer and inside the far post from about 15 yards.
Mourinho did not smile or react and he was right not to, for after the break his men showed little improvement.
He did clap when Oscar - one of the few decent performers in a blue shirt - struck the bar from 22 yards.
Then Basel seemed to realise The Special One's side were nothing special after all. His defence failed to deal with Behrang Safari's ball in from the left and Streller teed up Salah, who curled a left-footed shot into the far corner. Then Safari's corner found Streller, who glanced a header in at the near post. Eto'o had a late chance to equalise, but using his right foot - when it cried out for a left-footed effort - lifted it straight into keeper Sommer's hands. Even Juan Mata could not lift Chelsea after coming on.
At the final whistle there were a few boos - not something Mourinho would have expected when he returned.
Now come trips to Fulham in the league on Saturday and to League One Swindon in the Capital One Cup four days later.
The yolk could be on Mourinho if things don't pick up and quick!
CHELSEA: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole, Oscar, Van Ginkel (Mikel 75), Lampard (Ba 76), Willian (Mata 67), Eto'o, Hazard. Subs: Schwarzer, De Bruyne, Terry, Azpilicueta.
BASEL: Sommer, Voser, Schar, Ivanov, Safari, Salah (Xhaka 88), Diaz, Frei, Stocker (Ajeti 83), Sio (Delgado 65), Streller. Subs: Vailati, Philipp Degen, David Degen, Sauro. Booked: Diaz.