Jean CANESSE, Media365, published on Tuesday April 15, 2025 at 11:02 p.m.
Beaten in Dortmund Tuesday evening (3-1), Barça qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League thanks to its broad success of the first leg (4-0).
« We will have to show a completely different face. Niko Kovac’s instruction was simple on Tuesday evening in the ranks of Borussia. Faced with the 80,000 people massaged in the boiling signal Iduna Park, the BVB coach wanted, as a priority, to see the intensity essential for a quarter -finals of the Champions League. He did not refrain, if necessary, to dream of the impossible after having dropped heavily in Catalonia six days earlier (4-0). If the first wish was completely granted during this return round in western Germany, the miracle did not take place.
It must be said that Barça, the only team in the history of the C1 to have gathered such a delay (the famous “Rontada” 6-1 against PSG in 2017), has not really feared to live this disillusionment in Dortmund. Less determined, less invested than its host, the Hansi Flick team has certainly experienced two very complicated period starts (hosting an express goal each time) but it seemed to accept, willy -nilly, a German domination which ultimately threatened it quite little. After two situations poorly exploited by Guirassy (5th, 6th), and the very nice penalty in “panenka” marked by the latter (1-0, SP, 11th), the BVB could not pass the second before the break. And his intense pressing has logically stretched.
Despite Guirassy’s hat -trick
However, hope did not leave the Borussen upon returning from the locker room. He even gained legitimacy when Guirassy offered himself a double, on a corner, of a head at close range (2-0, 49th). The way back was half done but, five minutes later, the goal against his Bensebaini camp gave three goals in advance to a harmless barça (2-1, CSC, 54th). The best attack on the C1 (37 goals in 12 games) did not attack much more in the last half hour, despite the presence of Lewandowski, Yamal and Raphinha as soon as you kick off, and Borussia has taken a last time to dream at the entrance to the last quarter of an hour.
Taking advantage of a full-axis axis of Araujo, Guirassy struck under the bar (3-1, 76th), he delivered Dortmund with two goals and took the orders of the scorer classification in C1 (13 achievements). But it was the last blow of a formation generally held at a distance all along and which could not have reissued its performance from last season (vice-European champion after eliminating Mbappé PSG in half). It is through the small door that Barça, for its part, reached this Tuesday the last square and it will probably have to do a little more during the 180 minutes to compete against Inter Milan or Bayern Munich for a place in the final.
Related news :