CHELSEA will face Basel for a place in the final of the Europa League.
Rafa Benitez’s men saw off quarter-final opponents Rubin Kazan despite a 3-2 second-leg defeat in Russia last night.
They progressed 5-4 on aggregate thanks to goals from Fernando Torres and Victor Moses.
Blues boss Benitez said: "Every draw could be difficult for us but Basel is not too far away to travel, so maybe it is a good option."
Swiss giant Basel KO'd Tottenham on penalties in their quarter-finals last night.
And Chelsea club secretary David Barnard said: "I think we would have hoped for Basel but then Basel have just put out Tottenham.
"They were also responsible for Manchester United not getting through the group stage which is a tough one.
"Credit must go to Rafa because of the way he has handled it and got Chelsea to two semi-finals."
Barnard also had one eye on the Europa League final, where he has already pinpointed Chelsea's preferred opponents.
He added: "If we play in the final of the Europa League final we will still be holders of the Champions League so we could be holders of both trophies at the same time.
"Fenerbahce and Benfica are both known to us.
"We played Benfica in last year's Champions League and we have a good relationship with them so I think we would prefer to have Benfica in the final."
Fenerbahce meet Benfica in the other semi-final. The matches will be played on April 25 and May 2.
ARSENE WENGER has told Arsenal: Forget about Tottenham and Chelsea.
The Gunners could go back above Spurs if they beat Norwich at the Emirates on Saturday.
The North London rivals — along with Chelsea — are battling it out for two of the top-four spots.
But Arsenal boss Wenger said: “I don’t mind if Tottenham losing will have an influence or not.
"And I don’t care about that because I care about our results.
“We do not have to look at other teams. We just want to focus on how we want to play and to win our games.
“That is all we want to do — focus on ourselves, win our games and continue to play the way we play.
"With the same spirit we can go from strength to strength in every single game. That is our target.
“I have said many times, there is no room for dropping points.
"But there is room for winning points and that is what we want to achieve.”
