Chelsea earned a precious Champions League point on head coach Sonia Bompastor's return to her former club Lyon, but only after a breathless finale in which goalkeeper Hannah Hampton produced a stunning full-length save to deny Ada Hegerberg in stoppage time.

The goalless draw at the Stade des Lumières was a far cry from the fixture's build-up. Lyon had thrashed Servette 8-0 in their opening league-phase match and had scored at least seven times in all four games they had played in all competitions this season. Yet on a night of tantalisingly few clear-cut chances, both sides finished with nine shots apiece, and it was the offside flag and the video assistant referee that decided most of the big moments.

Even first half, brighter Blues after the break

Chelsea made a strong start, with Melvine Malard — facing her former club — brilliantly improvising an overhead volley towards goal that was an easy catch for Maria Grohs. Lyon soon grew into the contest, though, and Melchie Dumornay threaded the ball through to Salma Paralluelo, who forced a sharp early save out of Hampton after 20 minutes. Dumornay then drilled an effort narrowly wide of the post, with Marie-Antoinette Katoto scuffing her attempt straight at Hampton, before Selma Bacha and Caroline Weir both failed to hit the target as the hosts finished the opening period on top.

The 20-year-old Lexi Potter, buoyed by her first senior England call-up on Tuesday, gave as good as she got in the physical battle of midfield alongside compatriot Keira Walsh. Chelsea, though visitors, dominated possession without finding a decisive edge in attack — a pattern that continued into the second half when they started the brighter.

Two VAR overturns leave everyone guessing

Chelsea thought they had won a penalty when Tarciane took out Sjoeke Nüsken at the far post just as the midfielder looked certain to score. After a check on the monitor, however, referee Marta Huerta de Aza overturned the initial award, with Lucy Bronze spotted interfering from an offside position during the build-up. Tarciane was still booked for the challenge.

Deep into the second half came the night's defining moment of controversy. Lauren James, introduced for Malard with just over half an hour remaining, went to ground under a challenge from Damaris Egurrola inside the box, and Chelsea were initially awarded a penalty. After a VAR review the decision was overturned, with the referee appearing to conclude that James had made contact with Egurrola rather than the other way around. The Lyon midfielder, having mistimed her tackle and missed the ball completely, looked very fortunate to escape, and Chelsea were left exasperated.

Lyon, too, thought they had found a winner in the 72nd minute when Paralluelo raced onto another superb Dumornay pass and swept her finish past Hampton, but she had set off too early, the offside flag denying her. James then wasted arguably the best chance of the match, firing straight at Grohs from Alyssa Thompson's pull-back.

Hampton to the rescue

With the game finally coming to life in the very late stages, Grohs was fully behind James' first-time effort to deny Chelsea a winner, and moments later Hampton made a brilliant save at full stretch to keep out Hegerberg's looping header in added time. Maika Hamano dragged narrowly wide deep into stoppage time as the contest ended goalless.

The expected-goals model told the story of an evenly matched night — Lyon's 0.78 narrowly bettering Chelsea's 0.73 — and both Chelsea and England will have breathed a sigh of relief that Hampton's evening did not end prematurely after a heavy collision with Tabitha Chawinga. Her fingertip intervention against Hegerberg proved the most vital act of Bompastor's first return to the club she won this competition with as a player and a manager in 2022.

Bronze: 'A draw for both teams is not the worst thing'

Defender Lucy Bronze, who played a prominent — and briefly controversial — role at the back, told Disney+: “We dominated possession, but it's a fair result. They had some good counter-attacking moments, they were on top at the end but that's what happens when two top teams play against each other. A draw for both teams, at this time of the season, is probably not the worst thing. We worked our socks off and I'm just proud of every single player, especially considering we played a very difficult game three days ago [against Arsenal].”

The point gives Chelsea four from their first two league-phase matches and a platform to build on against last season's beaten finalists, who are owned by Michele Kang and carry serious ambitions to win this year's title. The result came on a night when Bayern Munich finally got their first Champions League win of the campaign, beating Benfica 3-0 with all their goals arriving from the 74th minute onwards.