Suzanne Wrack’s report is already in, so that’ll be all from me. Don’t forget to join Sarah for some more action:
That’s a very awkward opening night for Chelsea, prompting discussion over whether Sonia Bompastor made a few too many changes to her starting XI. Twente’s game plan was a classic: hold the fort and launch on the break. They weren’t far off a famous win.
FULL-TIME: Twente 1-1 Chelsea
They lost 9-2 to Chelsea across two matches last season. This time Twente have a well deserved point – the hugs out there suggest they’re chuffed with that.
90+4 min: Chelsea launch their final waves …
90+3 min: Cuthbert is very nearly in position to cut back from the right, inside the area, but loses her footing after gliding past a Twente shirt.
90+2 min: Jean-François takes a tumble under pressure from Roord. They’ve had a decent battle in the middle tonight.
90+1 min: Chelsea have a corner … but Cuthbert’s ball is headed away. Kaptein launches a powerful hit from range but it’s straight at Lemey.
90 min: We have five minutes for a winner.
89 min: It’s now attack versus defence …. but Roord picks up a loose ball to get Twente forward, until Buurman easily holds off Andradottir.
87 min: Twente have a free-kick on the right-hand side, taken short. Time for another sub: the centre forward Ravensbergen makes way for Andradottir.
85 min: Kerr’s glancing header in the area is blocked, with Twente continuing to resist.
84 min: Chelsea have a free-kick from distance, with Beever-Jones ready to dink it into the area … Kerr gets the ball at the far post but instead of thundering a strike she opts for a ball across goal. Probably the wrong call.
82 min: Carpenter snuffs out some danger on Twente’s left after Roord swept a ball over to Ivens.
81 min: Roord jinks away inside the Twente half but her ball forward is to no-one in particular.
79 min: Beever-Jones heads away inside her own area before Chelsea break away on the right, moving it central …. and Sarwie emerges at the edge of the area for the first-time hit! It flies over but that would have been a special moment for the teenager who has just come on.
78 min: It’s a free-kick from a central position for Twente as Proost departs, replaced by Ivens …
76 min: Cuthbert crosses high from the right … and Lemey is out to punch away.
75 min: Tuin, the Twente left-back, is down after blocking a cross before Sarwie sees the ball on the left-hand side for Chelsea.
73 min: The game remains open as Proost threatens at the other end … though she was offside to begin with. Sam Kerr and Chloe Sarwie, 16 years young, make their way on to the field.
GOAL! Twente 1-1 Chelsea (Baltimore pen 71)
Easily done. Lemey dives to her left, Baltimore slots it into the vacant space. Chelsea are finally up and running.
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Penalty to Chelsea!
70 min: Reiten is tripped after some nifty footwork, just inside the area, fouled by Groenewegen …
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69 min: Twente change things up, with Elberink off for Van der Vegt.
67 min: It’s Beever-Jones’ turn to smash the ball over, stealing the effort from the onrushing Cuthbert inside the area.
67 min: Chelsea are starting to pepper the goal, with Cuthbert now firing over. The urgency is there, courtesy of the scoreboard.
65 min: Kaptein very nearly equalises, meeting a Carpenter cut-back from the right with a first-time effort inside the area … but the ball hits the side-netting.
Jill Roord makes a smart run into the left channel, sets the ball back for Van Ginkel, on the edge of the area, and she lasers a drive into the top right corner. It’s been coming in the last few minutes, a deserved moment for the hosts.
GOAL! Twente 1-0 Chelsea (Van Ginkel 63)
The heist is on!
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61 min: Thompson, who deserved something for her efforts this evening, is off. Rytting Kaneryd is on.
60 min: Twente have just begin to turn it on in the last few minutes, with Roord finding space in the middle among tired legs. They launch a couple of waves before Knol tries an ambitious effort from miles out, failing to test the target.
58 min: … there’s a brief bit of chaos in the six-yard box but Twente break away, with Proost winning the ball on the left. She can’t find a teammate before Tuin whips in a delicious delivery, very nearly finding Elberink at the far post. Twente are more than capable of pulling off a heist here.
57 min: Carpenter and Thompson connect again down the right to win a corner ….
53 min: Ouch. Nüsken and Gronewegen are down after a clash. Chelsea use the moment to make some changes, with Cuthbert and Kaptein on – Nüsken makes way, as does Hamano.
52 min: Thompson remains a bundle of energy down the right while attacking and sprinting back to track runs.
50 min: Thompson has the ball in the net … but the flag goes up. It’s actually Nüsken who was offside, drifting into the area to receive from Baltimore before playing it across goal for a Thompson tap-in.
48 min: Beever-Jones is suddenly through on goal and forces a save … but she was clearly offside, the flag eventually raised.
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46 min: And we’re back. Both sides remain the same as Twente win a free-kick by the halfway line … Vliek ventures down the right and directs a cross to Proost, who can’t middle an attempted volley inside the area.
A strange half, dominated by Chelsea on the ball … yet it was Twente who had the clearest chance when Vliek burst through on the right and should have tested Peng in the Chelsea goal, instead of trying to square it. The English champions have whipped in cross after cross, with Baltimore and Carpenter lively down the wings – but they’ve also struggled to properly test out Lemey.
HALF-TIME: Twente 0-0 Chelsea
Buurman wins a free-kick from distance and Chelsea play it short, trying to cut through on the right … but the move breaks down with Carpenter. There’s no added time as we have a breather.
43 min: Nüsken tries to dink the ball from the left-hand side … but the ball hits the ref. Thompson shoots from the right, her shot spilled by Lemey but cleared by Knol.
41 min: Carpenter sends in a delicious ball from the right … but there’s no one taking a punt with a run into the six-yard box.
40 min: It’s another Baltimore cross … but Tuin clears for Twente.
39 min: Chelsea work it very nicely from one wing to another, the two centre-backs involved …. but Baltimore’s cross is into the keeper’s hands.
37 min: A Chelsea corner sees the ball run to the edge of the area … Baltimore hits it beautifully first time, but it’s straight at the keeper.
36 min: The ball bounces nicely for Nüsken at the edge of the area … but she opts against the shot. Thompson then crosses from the right and Reiten glances her header wide. Again, it just won’t go right when the ball lands in the middle.
35 min: Reiten bursts down the left … but the crosses simply aren’t coming together for Chelsea.
34 min: Roord holds off Jean-François and wins a free-kick before Twente try and work it down the right. Buurman is in the way, though.
32 min: Van Ginkel is brought down on the edge of the Twente area by Hamano – Chelsea have just lost a bit of their rhythm in the last 10 minutes.
31 min: Carpenter and Thompson play their one-twos on the right but the latter overhits a pass to send it out for a goalkick.
29 min: Twente have an opening with a free-kick from the left, whipped in by Roord … but Carpenter gets in the way before a shot from the edge of the area is blasted high.
28 min: Beever-Jones launches from the edge of the area but the drive finds the safe mitts of Lemey.
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27 min: Beever-Jones makes a neat run into the area to pick up a dinked ball but her reverse pass into the middle can’t find a blue shirt.
26 min: Chelsea recycle the ball at the back as Twente hold a decent defensive shape.
24 min: Roord tries to split Chelsea with a ball to Oude Elberink but the danger is comfortably cut out.
22 min: Thompson and Carpenter remain dominant down the right before Buurman is dispossessed and Twente break. Roord continues to search for the ball between the lines.
19 min: Somehow, we still don’t have a goal. Thompson jinks away on the right again for Chelsea, turning Tuin inside out, but her cross is uncoverted. Chelsea are just missing a clinical edge at the moment.
17 min: Jean-François eases her way into the Twente area and cuts back from the left … Hamano is waiting, surely there to open the scoring from close to the penalty spot, but she blasts over the bar.
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15 min: Carpenter does some excellent hassling on the right to set up another drive down the wing and cross into the middle – the Chelsea full-back is at the centre of everything at the moment.
13 min: Thompson plays in the overlapping Carpenter on the right, but her dinked in cross beats the run of Reiten in the middle.
11 min: Chelsea play it short and little comes of it before Twente cut through Chelsea with a brilliant sequence of passes – Vliek is set through on goal and should really take it on herself … but she tries to square it and the danger is cut out by Carpenter. That was a real chance.
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10 min: Another corner for Chelsea as Reiten causes more problems on the left …
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8 min: Jean-François drives in the corner and Beever-Jones attacks, her header clipping the outside of the post.
7 min: Baltimore and Reiten combine nicely down the left again to secure a corner …
6 min: Millie Bright intercepts at the back before Baltimore nutmegs on the left, though the attack breaks down.
4 min: Baltimore feeds Reiten down the left channel but the cross into the box finds Lemey, the Twente keeper.
3 min: Carpenter and Thompson play a neat one-two out on the right but the former’s cross is cleared – already, Chelsea are threatening down that wing.
2 min: Twente win a free-kick in their own half after Nüsken fouls, but Chelsea are quick to win the ball back.
1 min: Alyssa Thompson thunders down the right but her cross is out of bounds.
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Peeeeeeep!
Chelsea get things going in blue, moving from right to left.
Right then, after some technical difficulties with Disney, I’ve got my stream sorted. The players are out and we’re about to get going.
The Women’s Champions League has a new format this season, shifting to an 18-team league phase, similar to the model adopted by the men’s version. After Twente, Chelsea are down to face Paris FC, St. Pölten, Barcelona (yikes), Roma and Wolfsburg.
Jill Roord, once of Manchester City, is in the Twente XI, having re-joined her first club in the summer. The move was about rediscovering some joy:
It had nothing to do with [Manchester] City. My time with City was really good. I have been away for eight years playing abroad and it becomes tough being alone for that many years. In the past few years I lost my fun and my happiness in football a little bit because of being away, travelling a lot and not being able to be with family and friends. With busy summers every year I never really got a break. I needed to move back home, enjoy life and enjoy football again.
Here’s the full interview with Tom Garry in June.
Chelsea look very different to the side that drew against Manchester United on Friday: Ellie Carpenter, Millie Bright, Sandy Baltimore and Aggie Beever-Jones are the only starters from that fixture still in the XI. Catarina Macario is out with an achilles injury, though Bompastor has said she’ll be fine for the weekend fixture against Tottenham.
The teams
Twente: Lemey, Vliek, Carleer, Knol, Tuin, Groenewegen, Roord, Van Ginkel, Elberink, Ravensbergen, Proost
Subs: Bussman, Van der Vegt, Hulst, Diekman, Andradottir, Te Brake, Verdaasdonk, Ivens
Chelsea: Peng, Carpenter, Bright, Buurman, Baltimore, Hamano, Jean-François, Nüsken, Thompson, Beever-Jones, Reiten
Subs: Björn, Hampton, Cuthbert, Kaptein, Kaneryd, Kerr, Potter, Sarwie, Walsh
Preamble
Is this the season? WSL champions six years in a row, a domestic treble to celebrate, unbeaten in the league for yonks … but that Champions League remains missing. Barcelona have had Chelsea’s number in three consecutive semi-finals (as well as the 2021 final), but a fresh start gets that dream going again.
Sonia Bompastor and her players’ opening assignment in this rejigged comp is in the Netherlands, with Twente the hosts. They faced each other last season, when Chelsea won 3-1 at De Grolsch Veste, and a 6-1 win victory at home added to the one-sided nature. Twente have those memories to contend with as Chelsea begin plotting a path to Oslo, the scene of this year’s final. We’ll play at 5.45pm BST.
