Chelsea and Schalke have played out a 1-1 draw in their opening UEFA Champions League match on Wednesday night.
The Blues were denied an first Group G victory by the German visitors after Klaas-Jan Huntelaar struck in the second half to cancel out Cesc Fabregas' early opener.
Prior to the match, the two sides were completely contrasting as Jose Mourinho's were in peerless form in the Premier League with four wins from four while Jens Keller's Schalke have experienced their worst beginning to a Bundesliga season in four decades.
In addition to that, Chelsea had beaten the Gelsenkirchen club 3-0 in both Champions League meetings last season and had significantly strengthened over the summer but were unable to record an expected win at Stamford Bridge.
The opening goal came in the 11th minute when Fabregas, who has six league assists already, slotted home a neat pass from Eden Hazard despite fouling Max Meyler moments earlier.
The referee did not penalise the former Barcelona midfielder and it proved to be a harsh call on Schalke as they fell behind when they shouldn't have.
Chelsea had their chances to double the lead but were incapable of doing so and it became costly when Huntelaar played a tidy one-two with Julian Draxler before slotting home past Thibaut Courtois.
In the end it was a positive result for Schalke who were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat early on while Chelsea will be wondering how they let that one get away as they now look ahead to their second fixture of the European campaign.
The Blues travel to Sporting Lisbon on September 30 while Schalke will host NK Maribor following their 1-1 draw with the Portuguese at home.
UEFA Champions League - Group G
Chelsea (ENG): 1 (Cesc Fabregas 11') Schalke (GER): 1 (Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 62') Stamford Bridge, London - 39,500
