'Best display of season' but Chelsea rue missed opportunity

Having suffered plenty of past heartache at Barcelona's expense, Chelsea may have ordinarily celebrated a 1-1 draw with them in the Women's Champions League.

But this was a missed opportunity.

Chelsea were the better side on the night, dominating most of the first half and creating plenty of goalscoring opportunities.

They led for eight minutes before failing to clear a corner and allowing Ewa Pajor to pounce on the loose ball, cancelling out Ellie Carpenter's delicious opener.

Australian Carpenter should have scored the winner too but dragged her close-range finish wide with 10 minutes to go and only the keeper to beat.

It was perhaps in that moment manager Sonia Bompastor knew their chance to beat Barcelona had gone.

Substitute Catarina Macario also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside, and when the full-time whistle eventually went, the Blues boss shook her head in frustration as her side dropped to sixth in the league phase table - two points behind their Spanish visitors in first place.

This was an impressive performance and a drastic improvement from their 8-2 aggregate defeat by Barcelona in last season's semi-finals - but their lack of ruthlessness ultimately proved costly and denied them the victory they craved.

"I think it is frustrating not to have won the game, especially when you look at the statistics and the chances we had," said Bompastor.

"We had opportunities to win so I'm frustrated for that reason, but overall there were also a lot of positives to take.

"We know in the Champions League and in the important games we need to be clinical. We have spoken about that and my players are trying so hard.

"I'm really pleased with the performance. Everyone worked hard and I think when we are playing at this level, we can put in performances like this one."

It was not only Bompastor who could not hide her disappointment at full-time as Chelsea's players flapped their arms, puffed out their cheeks and stood with their hands on their hips, wondering what more they could have done.

They have been chasing an elusive European title for several years and it is Barcelona who have proved to be their nemesis, knocking them out in four of the past five Champions League campaigns.

Former Chelsea defender Anita Asante told BBC Two: "This is an opportunity missed for Chelsea. This is the best opportunity they had to beat Barcelona and also jump into the top four [of the league phase table].

"This is the best performance I've seen from Chelsea all season. They will be delighted with how they approached the game and executed the gameplan. They frustrated Barcelona and created the three best chances."

Barcelona manager Pere Romeu admitted it was a "very different" Chelsea to the one they beat comfortably in last season's last-four tie.

Bompastor said the difference was down to her tactics - she had been "too ambitious" last season and modified their set-up as a result on Thursday night, making sure they were less vulnerable out of possession.

Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze told BBC Two: "It was frustrating because we feel like we could have won the game on the night. We probably had the better chances.

"Coming into the game, no-one expected it to turn out like that - maybe apart from ourselves at Chelsea.

"I was saying to Naomi Girma after the game that we were playing chess."

Girma was the then-world record signing when Chelsea spent £900,000 to bring her in from San Diego Wave in January - so expectations were always high.

The 25-year-old has struggled to settle, though, having been plagued by a knee injury that put a dampener on her eagerly-awaited arrival and limited her minutes.

But the USA defender showcased exactly why Chelsea were willing to pay the big bucks with a colossal display against Europe's elite side.

"Girma won't get the plaudits like other Chelsea players will, but she was defensively solid," said London City Lionesses forward Nikita Parris on BBC Two.

"Any time she needed to recover, with her speed, she was there. She can be proud of her performance, especially coming back from the knee injury she's had."

Girma's biggest moment came in the first half when she sprinted across the six-yard area to block Caroline Graham Hansen's goalbound strike.

It came just a minute before Carpenter went up the other end and thumped the ball past goalkeeper Cata Coll to put Chelsea 1-0 up.

When Barcelona tried to find a way through in the second half, they could not, largely because Girma read all their attacking ideas and put a stop to them.

Was this her best performance for Chelsea?

"Yeah, probably one of the best," admitted Bompastor. "She is a great player and we know her quality. It has been a shame for her not to be able to play more for us.

"Now she is back and we need to keep her on the pitch because you could see she is a great player who has a lot of experience and can bring lots of quality."