Barkley misses late penalty as Chelsea suffer Champions League defeat

Chelsea 0 Valencia 1

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Chelsea were beaten in their Champions League opener at Stamford Bridge, where Ross Barkley missed a late penalty and Mason Mount went off injured.

The Blues were undone by a free-kick from former QPR midfielder Dani Parejo with 16 minutes remaining.

Parejo’s delivery found an unmarked Rodrigo, who hooked the ball past keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga from near the edge of the six-yard box.

Chelsea were given a chance to equalise when a spot-kick was awarded with four minutes remaining after VAR confirmed that Daniel Wass had handled Fikayo Tomori’s header from Willian’s corner.

Barkley, on as a substitute, hit the bar after insisting he take the penalty rather than Jorginho.

Mount, who has been in fine form the Blues, was the victim of a nasty challenge from former Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin in the ninth minute.

Mount played on for six more minutes but was clearly struggling and looked dejected as he was replaced by Pedro.

Both sides had chances before the deadlock was broken – Willian fired wide and later over on in the first half, both times after collecting passes from Mateo Kovacic.