Frida Maanum bags a brace against West Ham

Arsenal W came agonisingly close to taking the lead on a blistering counter-attack that ended with Russo striking the post. The early scare jolted Barcelona into life as they shifted through the gears and pinned the visitors inside their own half. With Graham pulling the strings, the hosts mounted sustained pressure and created a flurry of openings, only to be repeatedly thwarted by Misa Rodriguez.

Yet football rarely heeds merit. The London outfit, who had scarcely threatened the Blaugrana goal again, required just a single foray forward to strike. Russo swung a delivery into the penalty box, Foord connected with the effort, and Cata Coll pulled off an initial save. The rebound fell kindly to Maanum, who broke the deadlock in the 21st minute.

The setback failed to knock Barcelona W out of their stride as they laid siege to the Arsenal goal before the interval. Guijarro went within inches of levelling with a late run from deep, Pina tested her luck by firing into the side netting, and Graham rattled the woodwork with a header. Pere Romeu's side tried every avenue imaginable, but the ball stubbornly refused to cross the line.

Barca pushed with such insistence that their reward duly arrived after the restart. And who else to deliver it but Graham? The Norwegian collected a pass from Brugts, isolated Hinds, cut inside onto her left foot, and drilled a low strike into the far corner to restore parity in the 62nd minute.

However, unlike other fixtures where an opening Blaugrana goal opens the floodgates, Arsenal successfully contained the hosts' resurgence. The introduction of Batlle, facing her former club for the first time, plugged the gap down the flank and neutralised Graham's threat.

Having accomplished the hardest part, Barcelona encountered an Arsenal side who smartly kept danger at arm's length and took the sting out of the contest. The hosts pushed until the final whistle in search of a winner, but had to settle for a point that offered scant consolation given their overwhelming superiority and abundance of chances.