Barcelona vs Chelsea LIVE: Women’s Champions League latest score and goal updates as Lauren James starts

7 mins: Hansen’s corner is flicked on by Caldentey, but it eventually rolls to Hampton in the Chelsea goal.

5 mins: Cuthbert is lucky to avoid a booking after a late challenge, but referee Stephanie Frappart lets this go. Much better game management than we saw in some of the men’s Champions League ties.

Shortly after, Barca attack and Graham Hansen gets in down the right. Her cross is turned behind for a corner.

3 mins: Barcelona are certainly dominating the opening exchanges, both on the ball and in terms of attacking opportunities, but no shots on target for either side yet.

1 min: Barcelona have already got into the Chelsea box a couple of times. The ball comes in from the left and almost falls to Graham Hansen, but she slips before she can get to it.

KICK-OFF! The home side get us underway in Barcelona.

The teams are in the tunnel now as the Barcelona anthem plays on the tannoy at the Lluis Companys stadium.

Perhaps the biggest news in the immediate build-up to the game is that forward Lauren James will indeed start for Chelsea.

 Emma Hayes previously confirmed that James missed Wednesday’s win over Aston Villa due to injury, but refused to comment on the extent or severity of the injury situation.

Well, perhaps it was all mind games, as the England international – who is central to Chelsea’s hopes of winning the Champions League in Hayes’ last season with the club – starts.

Emma Hayes on facing Barcelona again: “I look forward to every game. Of course everybody wants to be in the Champions League semi-final but we don’t have much time to think too hard about it.

“We had to try to win in the league first [on Wednesday] and our brains can now switch to the Champions League so it’s rest first, then we think about Friday and what we need to deliver in training. Then we go and play the first half. That’s all it is, the first half.”

Chelsea will know how Barcelona’s threats will come from all angles. The elusive dribbling and finishing of Graham Hansen when gliding off the right wing punished Chelsea in last season’s semi-finals. Mariona Caldentey’s ability to drift inside from the opposite side offers Barcelona an advantage in central areas, and allows Rolfo, a winger for Sweden, to play in the same position but from full-back. The departures of Jenni Hermoso and Asisat Oshoala means Salma Paralluelo, the best young player at the World Cup, has been afforded chances to lead the line. Paralluelo really made her breakthrough in her debut Champions League campaign last year but a 30-goal return this season resembles a further leap from the 20-year-old forward.

Naturally, Barcelona’s midfield remains the heart of a side that is defined by its technical excellence. Bonmati, the clear best player in the world over the past year, will threaten to undo Chelsea by exploiting the narrowest of gaps and the tightest of spaces on the edge of the box. Parti Guijarro, one of the Spanish players who made themselves unavailable from Spain’s World Cup squad, is the leader who dragged Barcelona from behind in last season’s final against Wolfsburg. Walsh, no stranger to England opposition, sets the tempo. Chelsea may look to focus on Bonmati, or Walsh, or Graham Hansen, only to leave room elsewhere.

Jenni Hormoso, who was kissed on the lips by Luis Rubiales at the final in Sydney, and has since filed a legal complaint against the former Spanish football federation president. She then went on to lead the fight against sexism in football in the country, and led to the departure of former head coach Jorge Vilda.

Bonmati revealed to BBC Sport, that in addition to the well-documented problems at national level, the same issues extend into the domestic set up.