‘Best display of season’ but Chelsea rue missed opportunity

Chelsea may have ordinarily celebrated a 1-1 draw with them in the Women’s Champions League despite having experienced many heartaches in the past at Barcelona’s expense.

However, this opportunity was a squander.

On the night, Chelsea overran the first half and provided plenty of chances for goalscorers.

Ellie Carpenter’s delicious opener was canceled after they failed to clear a corner and allowed Ewa Pajor to pounce on the loose ball, which they then led for eight minutes.

With 10 minutes left, Australian Carpenter dragged her close finish wide with only the goalkeeper to beat, which was unfortunate.

Sonia Bompastor may have known that their chance to defeat Barcelona was at a certain point.

When the full-time whistle finally came, the Blues manager shook her head in disbelief as her team fell to sixth place in the league phase table, two points clear of their Spanish opponents in first place, after substitute Catarina Macario’s goal was also for a minor offside.

Their 8-2 aggregate defeat by Barcelona in the semi-finals of last year was an impressive performance and a significant improvement over their previous best-efforts, but their lack of ruthlessness ultimately cost them the victory they desired.

“I find it frustrating not to have won the game, especially given the chances and statistics,” Bompastor said.

“We had opportunities to win, so I’m frustrated for that reason,” he said, “but overall there were many advantages to take.”

We are aware that we must be patient in the crucial games and the Champions League. My players are working so hard on that, as we have discussed.

Bompastor was the only one who couldn’t hide her disappointment as Chelsea’s players drew their hands to their hips, squirming, and pouting in disbelief.

Barcelona have proved to be their enemy, knocking them out in four of their previous five Champions League campaigns, a fact that they have been pursuing for a while.

Anita Asante, a former Chelsea defender, stated to BBC Two, “This opportunity was missed.” They had the best chance to defeat Barcelona and move up to the top four [of the league phase table] of that table.

“This is Chelsea’s best performance of the season,” I said. They will enjoy how well the game plan and approach were carried out. The three best chances were created by them, frustrating Barcelona.

Barcelona manager Pere Romeu acknowledged that Barcelona’s situation was “very different” from the team’s record-breaking performance in the last four tie.

Bompastor claimed that because of her tactics, she had been “too ambitious” last season and had changed their setup on Thursday night to make sure they were less vulnerable when they were out of the game.

Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze expressed disappointment by saying, “We feel like we could have won the game on the night.” The chances were probably better for us.

No one anticipated how things would turn out in the first half of the game, perhaps apart from Chelsea, said.

Expectations were always high when Chelsea spent $900,000 to sign her from the San Diego Wave in January as the then-world record signing.

The 25-year-old has struggled to settle, though, having been hampered by a knee injury that delayed her eagerly awaited arrival and slowed her down.

However, the American defender showed just why Chelsea were willing to pay the price with a spectacular display against Europe’s elite side.

On BBC Two, London City Lionesses forward Nikita Parris said, “Giram won’t get the plaudits like other Chelsea players will, but she was defensively solid.”

She was there whenever she needed to recover quickly. She can be proud of her performance, especially as she recovers from a knee injury.

In the first half, Girma’s biggest moment was when she ran across Caroline Graham Hansen’s six-yard crossbar.

Just one minute later, Carpenter tapped the ball past Chelsea goalkeeper Cata Coll to make the score 1-0.

Girma partially helped Barcelona defeat them in the second half as a result of them having to read all of their attacking ideas and put a stop to them.

Was Chelsea’s best performance this time around?

“Admitted Bompastor,” “yes, one of the best. We are aware of her level and her excellence. She has been unfortunate not to be able to play more for us.