Chelsea have come to be in the awkward position of celebrating their place in the Europa League final, while intending to have little to do with the competition next season.
Their reaction last night to a second-leg win over Basle which placed the London club in the showpiece in Amsterdam later this month was one of joy, but tailored to fit an ambition to reach the Champions League for next season.
League games against Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in the coming days will inform their hopes of doing that, with the Stamford Bridge side in third and three points ahead of their London rivals. They can consider the comfortable beating they delivered to Basle as a signal of intent.
The Swiss side were already bruised by goals from Fernando Torres and Victor Moses, before David Luiz gave them another swift kick to make sure of a place in the final on May 15 – where Chelsea will face Benfica. Mohamed Salah's fine goal had put the Swiss champions ahead after 45 minutes but it was lost from view as the hosts steamed ahead in the second half.
The tie was nearly forgotten about, too, as all the build-up was dominated by one man who had no impact on the match: Jose Mourinho. The Real Madrid manager's desire to be "loved" has heightened speculation of a return to Stamford Bridge – where he spent three successful seasons – and his name was sung by supporters throughout the evening.
Mourinho had guided Porto to successive Europa League and Champions League triumphs in 2003 and 2004, but now Chelsea could achieve the feat in reverse order and hold both trophies for a period of 10 days. The Portuguese would have been excited with the performances of many in Chelsea's young side as the club qualified for a 12th final of the 10-year Roman Abramovich era.
Only Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich have won all three of UEFA's major club competitions and Chelsea's ambition to become the fourth member of that elite group began without captain John Terry. The club captain was restored to the bench as one of five changes following Sunday's league win over Swansea City, with Branislav Ivanovic, Ryan Bertrand, Moses, Torres and Frank Lampard all drafted in.
It took a while to suggest such change was an advantage, with Basle opening the tie with a fierce intensity; Marco Streller's effort across goal skipping narrowly wide inside the first minute. The Swiss were also aggressive, with referee Jonas Eriksson taking a dim view of Serey Die's late tackle on Bertrand.
As the first chants for Mourinho began, Lampard hit the post after being played through by Torres and Moses fluffedthe rebound. Yann Sommer, the Basle goalkeeper, then denied Torres with a smart save before making a straightforward one to thwart Eden Hazard.
Chelsea had kicked off holding a 2-1 advantage from the first leg but there were concerns they would drop it when Stocker threaded a pass through for Salah to score.
The response would be quick, the result decisive. Lampard's shot was parried by Sommer but Torres was the first to react and slid in to level the scores on the night. Three minutes later and Chelsea had a second goal when Moses scampered on to his own ricocheted shot to plant the ball into the net. That put Chelsea well ahead in the tie and on their way to the final.
They made sure of that when Lampard teed up Luiz. The defender was 25 yards out but swung his left boot to arc a shot into the top corner and send Basle spinning out.
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