Sonia Bompastor insists Chelsea will head into next week's second leg against Barcelona with positive ambitions despite their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.

The Women's Super League leaders suffered just their second defeat of the season as they fell to a 4-1 defeat to Barca in the first leg of their semi-final tie on Sunday.

Bompastor's side were just 2-1 behind with less than 10 minutes to go, but Barca ran away with it to thanks to late goals from Irene Paredes and Claudia Pina, who completed her double.

Chelsea came from 2-0 down to beat Manchester City in the quarter-finals, and while acknowledging turning the tide this time around will be tricky, Champions League specialist Bompastor has not given up hope.

She said: "For sure, it will be difficult because we will have to score and create a lot more than we did today, while not conceding because if we concede one or two goals then it becomes even more difficult.

"But we like to have challenges and it will be a big challenge but we will go into it with a lot of positivity because it is a new game and new opportunity for us to perform."

An important game at the Bridge next Sunday. See you all there, Blues. pic.twitter.com/FQjpaPvrKs
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) April 20, 2025

Chelsea struggled for large periods of the match, only mustering five shots, which is their lowest total in a game in the Champions League this season.

Barca created chances worth 3.24 expected goals, vastly outperforming Chelsea's 0.2.

Ewa Pajor opened the scoring for the holders, before Pina doubled their tally prior to Sandy Baltimore pulling one back.

Nevertheless, Bompastor hopes that a good display at home to Crystal Palace in the WSL in midweek can act as a springboard for the second leg.

She said: "We need to learn from this and now we want to move forward, focusing on the next game against Crystal Palace and try to turn things around next week.

"It will be difficult but in football, you need to believe and the first thing will be going into the second leg trying to win the game, and then you never know what can happen."

Chelsea remain three points clear of Arsenal, having played a game less, with just four matches remaining in the WSL.

They will also play in the Women's FA Cup Final against Manchester United on May 18.