Hansi Flick’s attacking stars offered little as the German side did all they could to stay in the competition
Barcelona survived an onslaught from Borussia Dortmund to secure a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League. Despite a 3-1 loss in Germany on Tuesday, the Catalan side went through with a 5-3 aggregate win against Niko Kovac’s men.
Serhou Guirassy’s hat-trick made the difference on the night for a Dortmund side that gave everything to keep their hopes of a second consecutive European final appearance alive.
The hosts made clear they would not go down without a proper fight as they bombarded Barca’s defence, and within 10 minutes, they had a penalty after Wojciech Szczesny brought down Pascal Gross in the box and Guirassy converted easily. Shortly afterwards, Gross had the ball in the net again, but it was ruled out for offside.
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Early in the second half, Dortmund flew forward again with Karim Adeyemi leading the charge and the pressure resulted in a corner, with Daniel Svensson’s cross knocked back across goal for Guirassy to head in from close range.
It all fell apart for Dortmund less than 10 minutes after the restart, though, when Fermin Lopez was released down the right side and whipped the ball into the box, where Ramy Bensebaini blasted it into his own net.
Barca enjoyed a resurgence after the goal, keeping the ball high up the field but without creating great chances as Raphinha and Lamine Yamal failed to find any space, leaving Robert Lewandowski isolated.
It was Dortmund who struck next when Julien Duranville scrambled past Gerard Martin and sent a dangerous ball into the box. Ronald Araujo’s clearance went straight to Guirassy, delivering his hat-trick on a plate. Kovac’s team kept pressing until the end in an exciting clash, but Hansi Flick’s men made it through.
- AFPGoalkeeper & DefenceWojciech Szczesny (7/10):Gave away the penalty to start off his team’s troubles, but made a lot of good saves.Jules Kounde (5/10):Offered little in defence beyond a decent block and didn’t have much of a say going forward either.Pau Cubarsi (5/10):Didn’t put up much of a struggle as Dortmund kept attacking.Ronald Araujo (6/10):Had a hard time dealing with Adeyemi’s pace.Gerard Martin (7/10):Put in an excellent shift to break down Dortmund on several occasions.
- Getty Images SportMidfieldGavi (6/10):Tracked back to win the ball and made some good passes, but was taken off before the hour mark.Frenkie de Jong (7/10):Cut out a good number of Dortmund attacks and was impressive on the ball.Fermin Lopez (7/10):His dangerous ball in forced Bensebiani’s blunder and helped Barca apply more pressure in the second half.
- AFPAttackLamine Yamal (5/10):Saw enough of the ball but couldn’t create anything.Robert Lewandowski (4/10):Didn’t have any impact against his former team this time around, but his presence impacted Bensebiani for the goal.Raphinha (4/10):Had one shot blocked and another tame effort easily saved as he struggled to get going.
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