Chelsea Women began this season’s European campaign with an away trip to Real Madrid, bringing a point back to England after a 2-2 draw in Spain.

However, it could have been more, as the Blues dominated large spells of the game, especially in the second half, while having reason to be unhappy with the officials due to a debatable penalty awarded for Real Madrid’s equaliser, and a controversially disallowed goal for Niamh Charles.

All of that left Charles with mixed emotions after the game; proud of the way she and her team-mates had performed in a big match, but frustrated at the things which went against us.

‘The result was really disappointing,’ she admitted. ‘We didn’t lose, but it feels like a loss. For it to end like that, it is disappointing.

‘But a draw away from home to start off the campaign, I think we can be happy with that longer term. Right now, having dominated the game, we’re a little bit disappointed, but it’s definitely something to build on.

‘To come away from home and manage a game like that, that’s something we can be really proud of and hopefully we can take it into the next game.’

In addition to her late disallowed goal, Charles had scored our first to level the scores after going behind early on, and then set up Sam Kerr to put us in the lead in the second half. It was another impressive performance from the full-back, who has been ever-present in Emma Hayes’ side, starting every game so far this season.

‘I have been working hard on that delivery into the box, connecting with Sam. And arriving late and Ash put an absolutely unbelievable ball in for my goal. It’s kind of what you dream of, for it to just open up at the back post. So I’m really happy with that but would for sure take three points over a goal and an assist.

‘I know I definitely wasn’t offside for the disallowed goal at the end, because when I hit the ball there were still players in front of me. I know looking across the line I definitely wasn’t offside.

‘That is really frustrating. I can’t control that though, we can’t control the decisions of the referee. It’s frustrating right now but we’ve just got to keep focusing on ourselves and hopefully in the long term it’s going to pay off.’

She will be hoping that her and the team’s good form continues when they next take to the pitch, at Stamford Bridge this Saturday 18 November. That is for a Women’s Super League tie against Liverpool, and Charles is looking forward to the chance to play in front of a packed crowd at the Bridge.

‘I’m really excited,’ she added. ‘We want to build this momentum in the games and keep going, recover properly. This is what we all look forward to, when the games come thick and fast, and hopefully we can build some really good momentum and put in a good performance on Saturday.’