Borussia Dortmund could not recover from a devastating first-leg defeat by Barcelona and failed to reach the Champions League semi-finals, despite winning an exhilarating return match thanks to Serhou Guirassy’s hat-trick.
The Catalan giants appeared to have all but secured their spot in the last four for the first time since 2019, following their commanding 4-0 victory at home.
However, Dortmund put up a valiant effort and came close to staging a remarkable comeback in a dramatic second leg. They instilled doubt in Barcelona’s minds when Guirassy cheekily converted a ‘Panenka’ penalty over Wojciech Szczesny in the 11th minute, after the Polish goalkeeper had brought down Pascal Gross.
Guirassy then halved the deficit four minutes after the break, but Dortmund’s hopes seemed dashed when Ramy Bensebaini inadvertently scored an own goal just five minutes later, extending Barcelona’s lead to three goals on aggregate.
Despite a tremendous effort, in which they created and missed several chances, and had a Gross goal ruled out for offside, it appeared that Dortmund’s energy had waned. However, Guirassy reignited their hopes by scoring again in the 76th minute, powering a poor clearance into the roof of Barcelona’s net.
Substitute Julian Brandt then broke clear and rifled a shot past Szczesny, but celebrations were cut short by an offside call.
It was a fantastic fightback, but Barcelona managed to hold on and reached the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since their infamous collapse against Liverpool in the second leg at Anfield six years ago.
Barcelona will now face either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich, with the Italian side holding a 2-1 lead going into Wednesday’s second leg.
