Chelsea held by Twente in Champions League opener | OneFootball

Chelsea were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw in their Women’s Champions League opener after Sandy Baltimore’s penalty cancelled out Danique van Ginkel’s strike for Twente.

Sonia Bompastor’s side, who had beaten the Dutch champions 9-2 on aggregate in last season’s group stage, dominated for long spells in Enschede but lacked sharpness in front of goal.

The hosts created the clearest opening early on when Leonie Vliek opted to square to Jaimy Ravensbergen rather than shoot, allowing Chelsea to recover. The Blues’ best moment before the break came when Maika Hamano fired over from close range after Oriane Jean-François’ cutback.

Alyssa Thompson thought she had put Chelsea ahead shortly after half-time, but her effort was ruled out for offside. Twente then took the lead on 63 minutes when captain Van Ginkel collected Jill Roord’s pass on the edge of the box and curled a right-footed shot beyond Livia Peng into the top corner.

The English side equalised eight minutes later. Guro Reiten was brought down in the area by Lynn Groenewegen, and Baltimore converted the resulting penalty, sending goalkeeper Diede Lemey the wrong way.

Despite late pressure from the visitors, Twente held firm to claim a valuable point in their opening group fixture. Chelsea will face Paris FC and St Pölten next before meeting Barcelona later in the competition.