Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho out to maintain impeccable Champions League group stage record as Red Devils begin campaign

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There is something clever to the way Manchester United have approached this week.

They are back in the Champions League after 644 days, but to no great fanfare. No rabble rousing and certainly no predictions of how far they might expect to go in this competition.

It started with Ander Herrera on Saturday night, in the howling wind outside the exit of the Bet365 Stadium. Qualification is a 'basic' for United, he said, before reasoning that 'we cannot forget we came from the Europa League'.

Jose Mourinho leads Manchester United back into the Champions League against Basle

The United boss has an impeccable record, having always reached the knockout stage

Perhaps it is because Basle are first up. Not a fixture to exactly whet the appetite.

Publicly, the players believe that reacclimatising themselves may take time and Jose Mourinho is of the same mind - even if he effectively revealed nothing less than reaching the last 16 will do.

'There are many teams in the Champions League that are very similar to teams in the Europa League,' Mourinho said.

'In fact, Feyenoord and Anderlecht, we played them last year in the Europa League, they were champions in their countries and now they are playing in the Champions League, so there are many teams with similar qualities.

Mourinho has given the impression only progression from the group stage will do

Mourinho last lifted the famous trophy in 2010 when Inter Milan beat Real Madrid

'We have to try to qualify, we have to try to go to the last 16 and enjoy that special knockout phase with the best teams in Europe.'

Mourinho may well expect to reach the knockout stages, given he's never failed to do so during his long Champions League career. 

Old Trafford was where Mourinho burst onto the scene, as his Porto side dispatched United from the competition to prompt the Portuguese manager's famous celebration in 2004, before he went on to win the trophy for the first time the following May.

He won it again with Inter in 2010 and has reached seven other semi finals, including three with both Chelsea and Real Madrid and another during his time in Milan.

But despite Mourinho's own record, United's recent history dictates that sailing through a group including Tuesday's opponents Basle, Benfica and CSKA Moscow is unlikely.

Mourinho first won the competition by leading Porto to victory in the 2003-04 season

Earlier in that campaign Mourinho had made his mark on the Old Trafford touchline

United's potential starting XI for Basle

Mourinho has pointed towards United's record under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal as reason for that, but it is undoubted they ought to progress.

For him, after time away and winning the Europa League for a second time, it offers a chance to pit his wits against the best again.

Let us not forget that the season before Mourinho's last full campaign in this competition, in 2013-14, he took Chelsea to the semi-finals, a defeat by Atletico Madrid.

He talked about this being United's natural habit but that more than applies to the Portuguese, too.

'To be back to Champions League is just to go back to the natural habitat for Manchester United, season after season,' Mourinho added.

'Myself, I only play Europa League twice. Apart from that I always played Champions League.

'For some players it is to go back, for some players it is the motivation of playing Champions League for the first time.

'So, yes, we look forward to the match tomorrow and I hope also Old Trafford feels it in the same way we are feeling it.'  

Romelu Lukaku, pictured with Paul Pogba, is set to make his first Champions League start

He is set to give a Champions League group stage bow to Romelu Lukaku against Basle, with the Belgian having previously played in four qualifying round games for Anderlecht during his teenage years.

He scored three goals in those four games but never got the chance to play for Chelsea at Europe's top table, so all eyes will on the £75m man as he bids to prove he belongs at the top of the game.  

United and Basle meet for the fifth time on Tuesday night, with the series split with both sides winning a game each and sharing two draws.

They first met during the experimental second group stage during the 2002-03 campaign, where United won 3-1 in Switzerland before the second game at Old Trafford was drawn 1-1 in a game which included a rare Gary Neville goal.

They met again in the 2011-12 campaign, drawing 3-3 at OId Trafford before Marco Streller and Alexander Frei scored to condemn the Reds to a 2-1 loss at St Jakob-Park. 

Lukaku's only other Champions League appearance have come in the qualifying stages