Dortmund's Spirited Fightback Against Barcelona Falls Short In Champions League Quarter-Finals

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Borussia Dortmund's Pascal Gross praised his team's spirited performance in their 3-1 victory over Barcelona. Despite entering the second leg with a four-goal deficit, Dortmund aimed to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the second consecutive year. Gross won a penalty early on, which Serhou Guirassy converted, setting the tone for the match at Signal Iduna Park.

Guirassy's hat-trick was remarkable but insufficient as Barcelona advanced with a 5-3 aggregate win. This marked Barcelona's first Champions League semi-final appearance since 2018-19. "We knew we had a tough result from the away game but everything is possible in this stadium," Gross stated. He emphasised their need to play courageously and support each other more on the pitch.

Gross acknowledged that Dortmund's first-leg performance was disappointing. "It's a shame we didn't play like that in the first leg as we could have got something out of it," he remarked. Despite Ramy Bensebaini's own goal disrupting their momentum, Dortmund continued to push forward, scoring a third goal.

This victory was Dortmund's first against Barcelona, having failed to win any of their previous six encounters in European competition. Gross created six chances during the match, contributing significantly to his team's efforts. His overall tally of 26 chances created in this Champions League campaign was only surpassed by Julian Brandt's 28 for Dortmund in 2023-24.

Guirassy became just the fourth Dortmund player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League, joining Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Karim Adeyemi. His 13 goals this season set a record for an African player in a single Champions League campaign.

Reflecting on winning the penalty, Gross explained his strategy: "I tried to get in front of [Szczesny]. I know he's going down and I tried to get my body between the ball and the keeper." The midfielder expressed satisfaction with their performance despite not advancing further.

The match saw Gross and Felix Nmecha have a goal disallowed for offside in the first half. Guirassy scored again early in the second half from Bensebaini’s flicked pass. However, Bensebaini’s own goal gave Barcelona some relief before Guirassy completed his hat-trick following Ronald Araujo’s defensive mistake.

Dortmund’s journey ended despite their commendable effort against Barcelona. Their determination was evident throughout the game as they fought hard to overturn their deficit from the first leg.