Chelsea got off to a flying start when Ellie Carpenter scored from a superbly hit shot from the edge of the box, only for our opponents to draw level eight minutes later.

The Blues head coach was keen to praise the discipline shown by her players against high-level opposition in front of the home crowd at the Bridge on Thursday evening, and was disappointed with a disallowed goal from Catarina Macario.

'I'm really pleased with the performance,' said Bompastor. 'The way the players applied the game plan and the mindset coming into the game. I think everyone worked hard, and I think when we are playing at this level, we can put in performances like the one tonight. Even when we face strong opponents, we are able to have a good game. So that's really positive in that aspect.

'It's frustrating not to have won the game, especially when you look at the statistics and the number of chances we created in the game tonight. I think we had the opportunities to win the game. But I think overall, there are also a lot of positives to take, and we know in these Champions League games and in the important games, we need to be clinical.

'We already spoke a lot about that. My players are trying so hard. I think sometimes we were also a little bit unlucky. We hit the post again tonight. We scored a great goal with Cat, and I didn't check the video after, but I'm not sure... It's a bit disappointing, but again, we need to focus on what we can control and stay positive for the future.'

Chelsea lost 4-1 in both legs of our Women's Champions League semi-final against Barcelona last season, and tonight's performance represented a big improvement against Pere Romeu's side.

Bompastor explained the changes she made heading into this latest encounter, and why those tweaks were effective this time around.

'I think the tactic going into the game tonight was a better one in terms of using the quality of my players and trying to frustrate Barcelona a little bit more,' she said. 'Probably last season, I was too ambitious out of possession. I wanted to try to play high up the pitch, being really aggressive.

'But when you play against Barcelona, this team has so much technicality, and I think it's difficult. You have to be almost perfect if you want to do that. So I think we changed that plan a little bit, and it worked better this year.

'It's important not to let the ball come through the middle. Barcelona put a lot of players in the central corridor, and they are really comfortable in tight spaces. They can move the ball really well.

'We needed to stay compact and to control the central corridor, but even when you do that, they have a lot of quality in the outside corridors, with the wingers, with the full backs. It's always difficult to defend against this team. I think tonight we had a good performance, but it's always difficult to be successful in that sense with the quality they have.'