Twente 1-1 Chelsea, UEFA Women’s Champions League result – Sonia Bompastor’s heavily-rotated Blues held to draw in league-phase opener

Chelsea made a lacklustre start to their campaign in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, as a rotated team made heavy weather of a trip to Twente, leaving the Netherlands with a point in a 1-1 draw.

Blues boss Sonia Bompastor made a host of changes from the side that started against Manchester United in the WSL last time out, and a disjointed display followed, with Chelsea controlling possession and finding plenty of space, but struggling to get on the same wavelength in the final third.

The visitors racked up 20 attempts on goal, but it probably should have been far more, with the final delivery often lacking and some disappointing movement and finishing in central areas seeing Twente keeper Diede Lemey not beaten from open play throughout the match.

The lively Alyssa Thompson did have the ball in the back of the net early in the second half, only to see her effort ruled out for an offside in the build-up. And Chelsea were ultimately made to pay for their lack of fluency, as Twente, who should have scored in the first-half with a golden chance on the counter, took the lead courtesy of a sublime finish on the break from captain Danique van Ginkel.

A penalty for a foul on Guro Reiten allowed Sandy Baltimore to level up from the spot, but the visitors, who made a host of second-half changes, including bringing on Sam Kerr, failed to find a winner.

The result leaves Chelsea on the back foot early in this first-ever league phase, with only the top four of 18 teams qualifying automatically for the quarter-finals. And with Bompastor’s team facing particularly tricky fixtures against Barcelona and Wolfsburg later in their set of six league-phase matches, they will do well to avoid slipping into the play-off round after this setback.

The Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor has been speaking to the host broadcaster, and here’s what she has had to say about her side’s frustrating evening in the Netherlands:

"It's not a good result at all. We wanted to start the campaign with three points. Tonight, out of possession I am quite happy even if we conceded a goal.

"I told my players after the game a bad result is tough right now but we need to stay together and take some learnings from that. That’s the only thing we can do, stay together and find solutions."

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The Champions League is the trophy that has eluded Chelsea throughout their decade of dominance, and they have made an inauspicious start to this latest attempt to win the biggest prize in European football, drawing away against a team ranked 11 places below them in the UEFA club coefficient. Sonia Bompastor’s side had the better of much of the game, dominating possession and registering 20 attempts on target, but they lacked a clinical edge in the final third. A penalty saw them come from a goal down and rescue a point to get them on the board in the league phase, but with some tricky fixtures to come (with Paris FC, Barcelona and Wolfsburg among their opponents) this result is a big blow to Chelsea’s hopes of a top four finish to avoid the dangerous play-off round and guarantee a seeded quarter-final berth.

The final whistle goes and the Twente players sink to their knees, celebrating a massive result against one of the best sides in Europe. They rode their luck at times, but worked incredibly hard and deservedly have a point on the board in the league phase.

Kerr throws her head back in frustration as the flag goes up to give Twente a chance to clear their lines. She’d already failed to connect with a backwards header in any case. That could be the last of the action.

Cuthbert darts into the box and gets on to a Kaneryd pass. She’s hoping for a touch and a penalty, but it doesn’t come and she can’t quite twist enough to get a pass away. The defender did well not to commit there.

Cuthbert has a crack from range and really gets some power behind her shot, but it’s straight at the keeper who makes the save.

There will be five more minutes in this game. Five minutes for Chelsea to get the winner they so desperately want.

Sarwie slides a pass down the outside of the Twente defence and Beever-Jones darts towards it, but the goalkeeper is sharper off the mark and slides out to claim it.

There are some tricky fixtures coming up in this league phase for Chelsea and they really could do with three points on the board early in this game, which is why they are pushing so many players forward looking for a winning goal. It’s been pretty disjointed since the second-half substitutes though in truth.

A deep cross makes it way to the far side of the box, where Sam Kerry has done well to make space for herself. It’s a tight angle so she opts to curl a cross in instead, but hesitated slightly and Twente deal with it. A fully firing Kerr would probably have just lashed that goalwards.

Chelsea’s teenager Sarwie comes onto a cutback that was intended for Beever-Jones who slipped, and the young full-back sends an excellent effort narrowly over the bar from outside the box. That’s a confident effort.

This has been a terrific and hard-fought game, and it’s increasingly open as Chelsea push forward. That leaves them vulnerable to the counter too though – will we have a late winner?

Sam Kerr comes on for the visitors, and so does 16-year-old Chloe Sarwie! What a moment for the youngster! Reiten and Baltimore are the players to make way.

Twente think they are in but are denied by some good last-gasp defending, and then the flag belatedly goes up in any case.

Sandy Baltimore steps up, sends the keeper the wrong way, and rolls her spot-kick home to level it up for Chelsea. 1-1!

Reiten darts into the box and is tripped just inside the area. In fact there was also a foul just moments before in Cuthbert too, also inside the box. The referee points to the spot, I think for the foul on Reiten, and Chelsea have a chance to get back on level pegging.

The ball breaks into space in the box and Beever-Jones has an attempt on the turn that fails to trouble the Twente goal. You can see why her eyes lit up there, but Cuthbert was a yard away and coming onto the ball in a much better position for the shot. She should have left it really.

The visitors have been rocked by going behind and are playing with real verve and intensity now. Kaneryd gets on the end of a flicked pass by Kaptein and tries to whip the ball back into the mixer, where Twente deal with it.