Borussia Dortmund's Champions League Quarterfinal Exit Despite an impressive 3-1 win over favorites Barcelona, this season only emphasized the opponents of the club in Europe and the Bundesliga.
While Dortmund did not succeed in destroying a 4-0 deficit from the first leg, they went up 2-0, causing hope among an unlikely comeback under the home fans.
The Niko Kovac team gave Barca's feared front line by Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha small space to work, while Serhou Guirassy played in front.
Even after Ramy Bensebaini changed to his own net, Dortmund continued, where Guirassy completed his hat trick.
Guirassy became the fourth Dortmund player who scored a Hattrick in the Champions League, after Lewandowski (April 2013 vs Real Madrid), Pierre-emerick Aubameyang (March 2017 vs Benfica) and Karim Adeyemi (October 2024 vs Celic).
His count of 13 goals in the competition is the most scored by a Dortmund player in a single campaign in the competition, who exceeds Erling Haaland (10 in 2020-21 and Lewandowski (10 in 2012-13).
Nevertheless, Dortmund was eliminated despite the score of three goals in one part of a Champions League Knock -out of draw for the first time, after they came from each of the previous nine times that they scored at least three goals in both Poots.
Barcelona is until the semi-final after ending the worst XG difference with one match (-3.36) of the knockout phases of the Champions League 2024-25. pic.twitter.com/7u9qvsueua
– Opta Analyst (@Optaanalyst) April 15, 2025
And the second place of last season is not assured of a place in the Champions League of the next term.
Dortmund, who ran 2-2 last week against leaders Bayern Munich, is eighth in the Bundesliga on 42 points, six from fourth place-the last to lead to automatic Champions League qualification with five more games to play.
“The question remains why we can't play so much in the Bundesliga,” said Dortmund -defender Niklas Sule.
“Hopefully we will show our fans here on Sunday a similar performance against Borussia Monchengladbach.”
Direct rivals Gladbach are seventh at 44 points and every slip-up against them can be expensive.
With only two wins in their last five league games, Dortmund has dropped valuable points in recent weeks and Kovac knows that his team has almost no risk.
The horror scenario for the club, both in sporting and financial terms, would not be eligible for any European competition.
“We had really good moments with the ball in transition,” said Kovac. “We will continue to show that to the boys so that they can also do it against Gladbach.”
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