Chelsea's opener came out of nowhere as Carpenter powered her way down the wing following some slick play in the Blues' half. While almost everyone in the stadium expected her to cross the ball, she instead unleashed an unstoppable effort into the back of the net from the corner of the penalty area.

The joy was short-lived though when Eva Pajor was first to react in a crowd of bodies in the box, levelling the scores with a shot high into the net eight minutes later.

Both sides battled in the second half, and the Blues had chances to win the match, but it ended with the points shared in what was a good advert for the women's game.

An old adversary

Sonia Bompastor made four changes from our 1-1 draw with Liverpool at the weekend, bringing Naomi Girma and Lucy Bronze into the backline, swapping striker Catarina Macario for Aggie Beever-Jones and also naming Sandy Baltimore in the XI to face our Catalan adversaries.

The Blues faced Barcelona for the fourth consecutive season, having met in the semi-final of the competition for the last three years running.

Pere Romeu's side pressed high in possession of the ball from the first whistle, and Claudia Pina hit a shot wide of the near post as an early warning shot. Chelsea had plenty of the ball in the opening ten minutes, with wing-backs Carpenter and Baltimore looking dangerous in particular.

And when Barcelona hit a diagonal ball on the break up to Pina, Livia Peng came racing out to dive on the ball and quickly extinguish the danger. Another sharp attack followed from the visitors, and they would've scored if it weren't for Naomi Girma sliding in at the near post with a superb intervention to put the ball out for a corner.

Stunning start

Then came a breathtaking breakthrough for the Blues, to the sheer delight of the home supporters at the Bridge. Carpenter burst forward down the right-hand side, and when the smallest of openings appeared for her, she let fly with a thumping effort from the edge of the box which smashed into the back of the net at the goalkeeper's near post.

Yet the lead lasted for just eight minutes. Barcelona attempted to fire a shot away through a crowd of bodies in the box, and when the ball broke for Pajor, she fired off a first-time shot high into the top corner.

This was shaping up to be an evenly-matched contest, and Wieke Kaptein had her shot from inside the box pushed onto the post by goalkeeper Cata Coll and then cleared off the line by Laia Aleixandri.

After the teams came out for the second period, neither Chelsea nor Barcelona had any clear-cut chances to score for almost 20 minutes as the Blaugrana kept hold of the ball in midfield. Then, just after the hour mark, Erin Cuthbert fed Carpenter, who broke forward again but this time dragged her shot just wide of the post.

Immediate impact

Bompastor swapped Beever-Jones for Macario with 72 minutes gone, and the US international had the ball in the back of the net with her first touch, but the attempt was ruled out for a marginal offside.

The Blues had another chance to get back in front when Carpenter played a one-two with Macario, but the Australian was disappointed to have fired her shot wide of the target.

This was a good performance from Chelsea, who head into the international break still unbeaten in all competitions.

What it means...

The Blues have taken eight points from our opening four matches in the league phase of the Women's Champions League, with a match at home to Roma and away to Wolfsburg still to play at this stage.

What comes next...

Our players will head off to represent their respective countries, as domestic football takes a pause for the international break. The Blues are next in action at Kingsmeadow on December 7, as we host Everton in the Women's Super League.

The teams

Chelsea: Peng, Carpenter, Bronze, Bjorn, Girma, Baltimore, Walsh, Cuthbert (c), Kaptein, Thompson, Beever-Jones (Macario 72)
Unused subs: Spencer, Bright, Buurman, Nusken, James, Rytting Kaneryd, Charles, Jean-Francois, Hamano, Potter
Scorers: Carpenter 16

Barcelona: Cata Coll, Paredes, Maria Leon, Aleixandri, Pina (Nazareth 87), Graham Hansen (Lopez 74), Putellas (Schertenleib 87), Bonmati, Pajor, Batlle, Brugts (Camara 63)
Unused subs: GemmaFont, Serrajordi, Cano, Fenger, Txel Font, Carla Julia Font
Scorers: Pajor 24

Referee: Tess Olofsson