Fernando Torres reacts after scoring against FC Basel.

Chelsea’s rollercoaster of a season could yet end with another night of European glory after they knocked FC Basel out of the semi-finals on Thursday to set up a Europa League final against Benfica.

Goals from Fernando Torres, Victor Moses and David Luiz in a nine-minute spell early in the second half gave Chelsea a 3-1 second-leg win over the Swiss champions at Stamford Bridge for a 5-2 aggregate success.

The reigning European champions, the first holders of the European Cup who failed to advance from the group stage of UEFA’s elite club competition, could finish the campaign with the glorious consolation of lifting the Europa League trophy instead.

Interim coach Rafa Benitez, who has been unpopular with swathes of the Chelsea faithful after he replaced the sacked Champions League-winning coach Roberto Di Matteo in November, could leave the incoming manager with a trophy to admire.

That man looks increasingly likely to be former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho who dropped more hints about where he would like to be coaching next season after his Real Madrid team were knocked out of the Champions league semi-finals on Tuesday.

That place is Chelsea and there is no doubt the fans want him back.

As well as applauding their team’s efforts on Thursday, they chanted Mourinho’s name throughout the match which turned Chelsea’s way after Basel went in at the break 1-0 ahead thanks to a goal scored by Mohamed Salah with the last kick of the half.

If Benitez had been worried about his team’s chances at the time, he did not show it afterwards.

“To be fair we had two clear chances in the first half and we did not take them,” he said.

“We conceded a late goal at the end of the first half so all credit to the players because they had to come back. We got three goals, we were on top of them, we were attacking and we controlled the rest of the game.”

Frank Lampard, needing just one goal to equal Bobby Tambling’s all-time club scoring record of 202 goals, fired against the post in the ninth minute, while Fabian Frei also rattled Chelsea’s bar with a fierce shot midway through the second half.

But in the end Chelsea ran out convincing winners and will head into their fifth European final on May 15 in Amsterdam following their victories in the old Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971 and 1998, and their two appearances in the Champions League final which ended in defeat in 2008 and victory last season.

The last team to reach the UEFA Cup and Champions League finals in successive seasons was Porto in 2003 and 2004.

The coach was Mourinho, although he achieved victory in the secondary competition be-fore winning the Champions League the following year against Monaco.