Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter at Stamford Bridge

It's another huge game at Stamford Bridge as Sonia Bompastor leads Chelsea out for a Women's Champions League game for the first time.

She is familiar with these surroundings having faced Chelsea here with her former club Lyon in the quarter-finals of the competition in 2023 and suffering a dramatic penalty shootout defeat.

She will hope to be on the other receiving end this time around with a squad who are desperate to get their hands on this trophy in May.

Real Madrid are arguably their toughest opponents in the group but Chelsea's players know what it takes to reach the knockout stages and it would be a surprise if they don't stamp their authority tonight.

The Chelsea squad arrived first and went to check out the pitch which is already wet and slippery having suffered heavy rainfall throughout the day.

Fans were just starting to gather at Stamford Bridge when I arrived almost four hours before kick-off.

A Champions League trophy was the one thing missing from Emma Hayes' collection when she left Women's Super League champions Chelsea in the summer.

However, new Blues boss Sonia Bompastor has plenty of experience when it comes to winning in Europe, having led Lyon to Champions League glory in 2022.

As the only person to have won the competition as both a player and coach, Bompastor will hope to help Chelsea go one step further than their runners-up performance three years ago.

Chelsea start their campaign against Real Madrid tonight - just two days after their WSL game against Manchester United was set to take place, but which was postponed because of conflicting schedules.

Celtic, meanwhile, are the first Scottish side to qualify for the Women’s Champions League group stage since it was introduced in 2020.

The club have been on a remarkable rise under head coach Elena Sadiku, winning their first Scottish Women's Premier League last season.

They cruised through the Champions League qualifying rounds, but tougher tests await in Group B against Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Image source, Getty Images

As the two-time defending champions, Barcelona will once again be the overwhelming favourites to lift the trophy in Lisbon in May.

The Spanish side, who have played in the past four finals, are aiming to become just the second club after Lyon to win three straight titles.

Their squad is full of players from Spain's 2023 World Cup winning side, including Ballon d'Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas.

Lyon's dominance in the Women's Champions League has come to an end in recent years, but the French club will be seen as the biggest challengers to Barcelona, having defeated them in the 2022 final.

However, the eight-time winners are entering a new era without Bompastor at the helm and are yet to prove themselves under former Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro.

Wolfsburg, as two-time winners and runners-up in 2023, would usually be seen as contenders, but their status as Germany's top team has been stolen by Bayern Munich, who have won the past two Frauen-Bundesliga titles.

Bayern have reached the semi-finals twice before, but they fell in the group stages last season after conceding a late equaliser to PSG in their final group game.

• Matchday one - 8/9 October
• Matchday two - 16/17 October
• Matchday three - 12/13 November
• Matchday four - 20/21 November
• Matchday five - 11/12 December
• Matchday six - 17/18 December

Chelsea: 8 October v Real Madrid H, 17 October v Twente A, 13 November v Celtic A, 20 November v Celtic H, 11 December v Twente H, 17 December v Real Madrid A

Celtic: 8 October v Twente H, 17 October v Real Madrid A, 13 November v Chelsea H, 20 November v Chelsea A, 11 December v Real Madrid H, 17 December v Twente A.

Arsenal: 9 October v Bayern Munich A, 16 October v Valerenga H, 12 November v Juventus A, 21 November v Juventus H, 12 December v Valerenga A, 18 December v Bayern Munich H.

Manchester City: 9 October v Barcelona H, 16 October v St Polten A, 12 November v Hammarby H, 21 November v Hammarby A, 12 December v St Polten H, 18 December v Barcelona A.

See the full list of fixtures here.

Holders Barcelona qualified automatically for the group stages along with Chelsea, Lyon and Bayern Munich as the winners of their respective leagues.

The 12 other teams - including Arsenal, Manchester City and Celtic - had to go through a tough qualifying process in which two-time finalists Paris St-Germain suffered a surprise exit.

The 16 teams are split into groups of four, with each club playing one home and one away match against each club in their group.

The top two teams in each group progress to the quarter-finals, which will be played in March.

This will be the last time the Women's Champions League has a group stage as the tournament is set to switch to a new 18-team league format for the 2025-26 season with nine teams qualifying automatically.

As always, tell us all your thoughts on the action.

How far do you think each of the four British sides will go in the Women's Champions League and why?

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In the early kick-offs in Group A, eight-time champions Lyon are beating Galatasaray 2-0 thanks to goals from Kadidiatou Diani and Vanessa Gilles.

Two-time champions Wolfsburg are behind at Roma after a 14th-minute penalty from Manuela Giugliano.

We've got around 15 minutes plus stoppage to play in these two matches.

Image source, Getty Images

Natasha Dowie
Former England striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

I think Real Madrid are the one team in Spain who have really been trying to compete with Barcelona but haven't been able to do yet.

Head to head against Chelsea you don't favour them, Chelsea are massive favourites.

However, they've had a good start. Both teams are in really good form. It really is going to be a fascinating game.

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor talking about the postponed Women's Super League match against Manchester United:

"We were disappointed, players and staff. I think everyone has to understand we were supposed to play.

"We were in a very good team dynamic and not having the opportunity to play this weekend changed everything in preparation for the game on Tuesday with Real Madrid.

"When you have the opportunity to play one game a week, with this decision being made to postpone the game, now we have been out of competition for 10 days which is completely different.

"If you look at the situation, the decision is not good. I think it is not good for all the English clubs who are in the Champions League competition."

Chelsea's Women's Super League game at home to Manchester United, which was scheduled to be played on 6 October, was postponed at a week's notice because of a conflict with the Blues' European schedule.

The Women’s Champions League draw was only made at the end of September and Chelsea's group game at home to Real Madrid was scheduled for just two days after the proposed United game.

Chelsea said that "numerous discussions" had taken place to seek an "amicable solution to this scheduling conflict" but they proved unsuccessful.

A club statement added: "It is therefore with sincere regret that we are left with no other option than to confirm the postponement.

"We are extremely disappointed with the outcome but wish to reiterate that player welfare and the impact on our supporters are of the utmost importance to us."

The Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), which runs the WSL, said: "We apologise for any inconvenience to fans. In this instance, we have to put player welfare first."

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter at Stamford Bridge

Sonia Bompastor makes three changes to the Chelsea side who beat Crystal Palace in their last WSL match 10 days ago.

Ashley Lawrence and Aggie Beever-Jones drop to the bench, while Erin Cuthbert is not in the squad.

In comes Sandy Baltimore, Mayra Ramirez and Wieke Kaptein.

Chelsea XI: Hampton, Baltimore, Bjorn, Bright, Bronze, Nusken, Kaptein, Reiten, James, Kaneryd, Ramirez.

Subs: Musovic, Lawrence, Perisset, Bartel, Hamano, Mpome, Jean-Francois, Beever-Jones.

There's plenty of big names in the Real Madrid team including former Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz.

Scotland international Caroline Weir starts after recovering from an ACL injury.

Spain international Olga captains the team, while there's also a start for former Manchester City midfielder Filippa Angeldal.

Real Madrid XI: Misa, Teresa, Olga, Weir, Redondo, Mendez, Garcia, Angeldal, Athenea, Lakrar, Leupolz.

Subs: Chavaz, Telles, Oihane, Rocio, Antonia, Bruun, Moller, Camacho, Caicedo, Navarro, Feller.

Hello and welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of the Women's Champions League tie between Chelsea and Real Madrid.

We will also have updates of Celtic v Twente here, but there will be a separate live page for full coverage of that match.

Later on we will have full commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live of Chelsea v Real Madrid, which you will be able to listen to in this page. Kick-off is at 20:00 BST.

The team news is in, so let's have a look at the sides named.

The group stage of the Women's Champions League begins this week, with four British teams - Arsenal, Celtic, Chelsea and Manchester City - among the 16 sides.

Celtic and Chelsea start their campaigns today, with Chelsea up against Real Madrid first up.

Image source, Getty Images