Basel manager Murat Yakin has insisted that the Swiss outfit remain realistic about their chances of advancing from the Champions League group stages.

The Super League champions must battle it out with Chelsea, Schalke 04 and Steaua Bucuresti in Group E for a place in the knockout stages of the competition.

Basel were eliminated from the Europa League semi-finals last season by eventual winners Chelsea, and Yakin is hoping that his side can go one better against the Blues this time around.

"It's nice to be here [again]. From the two games against Chelsea we showed what our limits are back then, and perhaps the result wasn't meant to be. But this is a new game and we are going to go out and give our best," Yakin told reporters.

"You want to look forward and see what you can achieve in the future. Yes, it was disappointing to lose against Chelsea in the semi-final last season, but our main thing is to look ahead at these matches and to do as well as possible from these six games.

"Of course we want to go through and play in this competition after the winter break, but let's see. We gained a lot of experience from last season. We'll be playing for second place, we have Schalke and Steaua in the group too; obviously Chelsea are the clear favourites, but let's see after these first two games.

"This is a new game: statistics don't interest me. Chelsea have a new manager and some new players and we've also changed a few things. But there's nothing nicer for our boys; we want to go out there, play in a clever way and be positive.

Basel travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Wednesday.