Barcelona survive Dortmund scare to reach UCL semis

Barcelona advanced to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2019, despite suffering their first defeat of 2025, losing 3-1 away to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night, April 15th. Serhou Guirassy’s hat-trick inspired a valiant Dortmund comeback attempt, but Barcelona progressed 5-3 on aggregate thanks to their commanding 4-0 first-leg victory.

Facing a monumental task, Dortmund started brightly at Signal Iduna Park. Guirassy gave the hosts hope in the 11th minute, cheekily chipping home a ‘Panenka’ penalty after Pascal Groß was brought down by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny. Groß himself had a goal disallowed for offside minutes later, while Szczęsny made saves from Ramy Bensebaini and Karim Adeyemi to preserve Barcelona’s aggregate lead before halftime.

Dortmund struck again four minutes after the restart, Guirassy heading in from close range after Bensebaini nodded a corner back across goal, reducing the aggregate deficit to 4-2.

However, Dortmund’s momentum was crucially halted just five minutes later when Bensebaini unfortunately sliced Fermín López’s delivery into his own net, restoring Barcelona’s three-goal cushion on aggregate.

Guirassy refused to give up, completing his hat-trick in the 76th minute by smashing home a loose ball after a poor clearance, taking his tally to 13 goals in the competition this season – reportedly the most by an African player in a single Champions League campaign. Substitute Julian Brandt also found the net for Dortmund, but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Despite the thrilling second-leg victory for Dortmund, Barcelona held on to secure their place in the last four. Hansi Flick’s side, still chasing a potential treble, will face the winner of Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich (Inter lead 2-1). For Niko Kovač’s Dortmund, it was a night of spirited defiance but ultimately elimination from the competition.