McCabe was praised for her performance against Arsenal on Sunday, but did not appear on the teamsheet for the Women's Champions League match at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais.

The team fought hard to earn a 0-0 draw against our French opponents, leaving us with four points from our opening two matches in the UWCL league phase.

‘Katie was sick,’ Bompastor explained. ‘Erin (Cuthbert) and Manaka (Matsukubo) are training fully with the team, and potentially they could be involved in the game at the weekend.’

Girma was also absent from the squad on Wednesday, and Bompastor was able to shed some light on her condition before addressing the problem goalkeeper Hannah Hampton suffered in the final minutes of the match.

‘Naomi got a knock in training,’ she continued. ‘So I think she will be unavailable for maybe a few weeks.

‘I didn't have the opportunity to talk to Hannah. She was able to finish the game. I'll speak to her and see how she is, but hopefully she's good and ready to go again.’

Chelsea defended hard against another top side on Wednesday, keeping our fifth consecutive clean sheet. Despite not coming away with all three points, there were many aspects of the performance that pleased Bompastor.

‘I'm really proud of my team for not conceding here in this stadium against a strong team and a strong attacking line,’ she said.

‘We are also happy about the way we performed with the ball. We were able to exploit different spaces between the lines, but also in the spacing behind. The only thing that was missing was probably the goal. We created enough big chances for us to be able to score tonight.

‘It was a very good game with two top teams. I’m happy it gives a good image of women's football. I’m proud that we could have such a high-level performance after playing Arsenal on Sunday. Both games were very good performances and that gives us confidence.'

This is Bompastor’s third season at Chelsea since she left Lyon at the end of the 2023/24 campaign. With the match now over, our head coach was able to explain how she felt about returning to a place that once was home, and discussed how she has developed as a coach since joining the Blues.

‘Tonight was really emotional,’ she said. ‘I spent so much time here at this club, in this stadium, so it felt great being able to see so many people I worked with.

‘Being the Chelsea head coach for Chelsea and coming back to this stadium with my team was a proud moment as well. The experience I got here at Lyon helped me to grow as a manager. I'm much more confident now. I’m different in a good way, I would say. More mature and making better decisions.’