Having lost 8-2 on aggregate to Barca in last season’s semi-finals, Chelsea wanted to put down a marker and get revenge on their European nemesis.
These two sides have produced some great games over recent seasons – but most of them have gone in Barcelona’s favour and Chelsea have suffered plenty of heartache at the Catalans’ expense.
Keen to turn that around and knowing victory would have been a major boost to their hopes of automatic qualification, Chelsea started with intensity and moved the ball around confidently.
They used the pace of their attacking talents Alyssa Thompson and Beever-Jones effectively, turning the game into a transitional one when they could and causing Barcelona problems.
Chelsea’s press was effective too and although Barca’s quality was too good on occasions, allowing them to escape it, Blues boss Sonia Bompastor would have been pleased at half-time.
Her side went toe-to-toe with Barcelona – and the only opportunity to take a breath came when a technical fault paused play for eight minutes as the referee’s communication lines were down and broadcast feeds across Uefa, Disney+ and the BBC were temporarily affected.
However, for all Chelsea’s creativity and positivity, they were only ahead for eight minutes when Pajor pounced to equalise after Carpenter’s rocket of an opener.
With little separating the two teams, the hosts’ lack of clinical edge was apparent in the second half when Carpenter had the game’s best chance but wasted a clever backheel from Macario with the teams locked at 1-1.
Chelsea have often struggled to impose themselves on Barcelona, relying on counter-attacks and direct play to get at the Spanish side, but this was a game in which they went at their rivals and found some success.
That should build confidence for the rest of the season as Chelsea have ground to make up in the Women’s Super League title race and still have work to do to book their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
