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The sides met in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage, drawing 1-1 in Gelsenkirchen on 21 October 2004. Basel subsitute Matías Delgado scored a late free-kick to earn a point for the visitors, who also included the Degen brothers. Levan Kobiashvili had put the home team ahead.
Basel will be hoping to repeat their first home game of two years ago when they beat FC Otelul Galati 2-1. In their other fixtures at St. Jakob-Park they lost 2-0 against SL Benfica and beat Manchester United FC 2-1.
• Last season Basel narrowly failed to become the first Swiss side to make it to the final of a major UEFA club tournament, losing 5-2 on aggregate to Chelsea FC in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals. The 2-1 first-leg reverse ended a six-game unbeaten home run in Europe.
• Basel have won both their home games in this season's competition, defeating Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC 1-0 in the third qualifying round (4-3 on aggregate) and PFC Ludogorets Razgrad 2-0 in the play-offs (6-2 on aggregate).
• Schalke, meanwhile, won 3-2 at PAOK FC in the play-off second leg to progress after a 1-1 home draw. They faced an uphill task when Ádám Szalai's opener in Greece was cancelled out and Jermaine Jones sent off. However, Julian Draxler and Szalai struck second-half goals to steer them through 4-3 on aggregate.
• Schalke were unbeaten in four away games (W2 D2) in last season's competition and have lost just one of their last 11 European away fixtures.
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