An eagerly awaited encounter between the 2021 finalists was witnessed by over 27,000 fans who turned out to be part of a historic spectacle, which got off to a tricky start for the Blues when we fell behind inside four minutes.

Caroline Graham Hansen broke the deadlock with a long-range strike, however Emma Hayes’ side produced a spirited response to this early setback. Guro Reiten saw one goal disallowed for offside and another effort denied by a last-ditch block from Lucy Bronze in our two best openings of the match.

Hansen’s strike gives the Spaniards a slender 1-0 advantage going into the decisive leg at Camp Nou on Thursday. Defender Carter put in an impressive display across the 90 minutes and believes we showed resilience as a defensive unit after falling behind in the early stages.

‘We got off to a really slow start,' Carter admitted. 'We were second to every ball and the goal going in was a massive wake-up call for us. You can’t give a team like Barcelona an extra yard anywhere and that’s what we did for the first 15 minutes. After that, we got ourselves well and truly back in the game and managed to get a little bit of momentum at times.

‘You’ve got to be aggressive against this Barcelona team otherwise they will tear through you. We were really resilient in defence and everyone defended quite well. We just have to work on our game going forward and how we can punish them.’

On whether the scoreline can be a cause for optimism or makes for a more difficult challenge away from home, Carter can see two sides to the argument but is confident we have the ability to cause problems for Barcelona in the second leg.

‘It’s both, going to anyone’s home ground is tough. Camp Nou is a fortress for them but all we can do is go back and review this game, work on what we can work on, look at the things we can do to go and punish them. We were able to get in behind and we were able to create a couple of chances.

‘We’ll get another chance when we go to Camp Nou, 1-0 is scoreline we can work with and it’s something we could exploit. If we put on a resilient defensive display, I don’t see any reason why we can’t go there and try to push them.’

There were positives to take from our attacking play, especially in the first half. Carter said staying in the game was vital, stressing the need to be more ruthless in front of goal and the importance of taking chances we create.

‘To go a goal behind and still stay in the game is a massive thing we can take from it. When we won the ball we could get in behind. We need a bit more quality in that ball when we do look to exploit them and that’s something we will work on.

‘We had a couple of chances and were able to get into their half, their final third and get a few set-pieces. We have to capitalise on them next time.’

Carter ended with a message to the 27,000-plus Blues faithful who turned out at the Bridge on Saturday, giving high praise to the supporters and thanking them for the role they play in driving the team forward each week.

‘The fans are amazing and they have been incredible this season. Each time we have come to Stamford Bridge they’ve been loud, super-energetic and that’s something we’ve really valued going forward. Hopefully, we can continue that.’