Dortmund expose Barcelona’s flaws in shaky Champions League advance | OneFootball

Barcelona secured their place in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals with a 3-1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park. Niko Kovač's side had already put in a quality performance in the derby against Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, but their performance against the Calatans was special thanks to their impressive intensity.

The first ten minutes saw intense pressure from Dortmund, who trapped Barça in their defensive zone and came at them with enormous danger from both sides. The aggressive approach led to several chances until the penalty kick in the 10th minute, when Gross was brought down by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny in the box. Serhou Guirassy's strike into the center of the goal was enough to give them hope.

Borussia Dortmund v FC BarcelonaBorussia Dortmund v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League 2024/25 | ANP/GettyImages

Hansi Flick's team tried to reduce the intensity of the game but were unsuccessful, not even managing to take advantage of Dortmund's high lines of pressure, who returned for the second half with the same intensity, verticality and definition of play. In the 48th minute, Bensebaini headed in a corner and Guirassy added the second goal.

Dortmund adopted an even more aggressive stance after the second goal, but Barcelona took the pressure off and finally secured their place soon after thanks to Bensebani, who scored an own goal and greatly slowed down the hosts' momentum. Dortmund still managed a third goal and Guirassy scored his hat-trick, but the Germans lacked the same intensity as before.

Borussia Dortmund v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Quarter Final Second Leg | Stefan Matzke - sampics/GettyImages

With the score at 3-1, Borussia Dortmund still tried to reactivate their pressure and even flirted with a fourth goal, but their dedication wasn't enough to eliminate Barcelona, who put in a below-par performance and showed more weaknesses than they should have in the second leg of the quarter-final.

Barcelona still favorites to win Champions League

Barcelona have suffered less than PSG and remain the main favorites to win the title, but we'll have to wait mainly for Real Madrid and Arsenal to see how dominant Hansi Flick's side remain in the title race.