5-time European champions Barcelona reached their first Champions League semi-final in six seasons with a 5-3 combination victory regardless of being overwhelmed 3-1 by Borussia Dortmund.
Serhou Guirassy scored a hat-trick for Dortmund to sentence Barca to their first defeat across all competitions this year but it surely couldn’t forestall the Catalans from reaching the final 4.
Barcelona will play both Inter Milan or Bayern Munich, who face one another on Wednesday, within the final 4.
The guests discovered themselves on the again foot from the beginning with Dortmund taking pictures out of the blocks as they tried to bounce again from final week’s 4-0 first-leg loss.
Dortmund, who drew 2-2 in opposition to Bayern Munich within the Bundesliga on Saturday, had two golden probabilities within the opening minutes earlier than Guirassy’s chipped penalty within the eleventh minute gave them a deserved lead.
The Spaniards, unbeaten in 2025 going into the sport, step by step fought their means again and will have levelled have been it not for some sloppy ending from Jules Kounde within the fortieth.
After the break, nonetheless, Dortmund have been once more the stronger facet firstly and Guirassy headed in after Ramy Bensebaini’s nod from a nook 4 minutes after the restart to ignite hopes of a possible record-matching comeback.
Dortmund’s try to match Barcelona’s Champions League report of overturning a four-goal first-leg deficit in a knockout stage was derailed by Bensebaini’s 54th-minute personal objective that settled Spanish nerves.
Robert Lewandowski had put Bensebaini beneath stress as he chased a cutback from Fermin Lopez, and the Dortmund participant stabbed the ball into his personal internet.
Lopez then had an opportunity to attain himself within the sixty fourth however his shot missed the goal.
Guirassy, the primary Dortmund participant to attain 13 objectives in a single Champions League marketing campaign, accomplished his hat-trick within the 76th, pouncing on a defensive error.
However, with Dortmund nonetheless needing two extra objectives to take the sport to additional time, the hosts step by step ran out of steam.
Reuters
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