Borussia Dortmund couldn’t recover from a first-leg demolition by Barcelona to reach the Champions League semi-finals, despite winning 3-2 in a thrilling return tie thanks to a Serhou Guirassy hat-trick.
The Catalan giants appeared to have all-but confirmed their place in the last four for the first time since 2019 following their crushing 4-0 win at home.
But Dortmund put up a brave effort to come so close to a stunning turnaround in a dramatic second leg.
They planted a seed of doubt in Barca’s minds when Guirassy cheekily chipped a ‘Panenka’ penalty over Wojciech Szczesny in the 11th minute after the Polish keeper had brought down Pascal Gross.
The Guinea striker then halved the deficit four minutes after the break, but Dortmund’s dreams looked to have been dashed when Ramy Bensebaini sliced into his own goal just five minutes later to give the Spanish side a three-goal lead on aggregate.
After an enormous effort, where they created and missed a host of chances and had a Gross goal ruled out for offside, it seemed like the energy had drained from the hosts before Guirassy gave them late hope and a fighting chance.
He completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute by smashing a poor clearance into the roof of the Barcelona net.
Substitute Julian Brandt then broke clear to rifle past Szczesny, but his side’s celebrations were cut short by an offside flag.
It was a fabulous fightback, but Barcelona held on to reach the semis of the competition for the first time since they let slip a three-goal lead in Liverpool’s famous second-leg comeback at Anfield six years ago.
They will face either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich.
