May 3rd, 2025
Serhou Guirassy and Borussia Dortmund did something special in 2025: they beat Barcelona, and no one else had done that. But this win was not enough to get to the Champions League semifinals.
Even though Guirassy scored three goals, his team still lost the game 3-1 to Dortmund. This was Dortmund's first win against Barcelona since December. Because of the results from both games, Guirassy's team lost with a total score of 5-3.
After losing 4-0 in the first match of the quarterfinal, Dortmund had nothing to lose Tuesday and attacked Barcelona from the start, surprising the visitors.
Barcelona's coach, Hansi Flick, who has often played against and beaten Dortmund in Germany, said he expected a difficult second game because of the home fans, even though his team was four goals ahead.
"I felt a little bit that something like this would happen," Flick told Amazon Prime. "Today, we must congratulate Dortmund; they played very well, and congratulations to my team, who are now in the semi-finals."
It was a surprisingly quiet game for Barcelona's excellent forwards Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, who had scored many goals in the Champions League this season. Neither of them came close to scoring, except for a weak shot by Raphinha which the goalkeeper easily stopped.
Coach Niko Kovac called Guirassy "life insurance" for Dortmund after a game that showed his quick success. This game put him at the top of the Champions League scoring this season. Kovac added, "Serhou needs his teammates' support, like all strikers, and he received it today."
Some people thought Dortmund had already lost the quarterfinal in the first game, and also their captain Emre Can and midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka were injured earlier that day.
For a time, Guirassy made difficult things seem possible.
Guirassy had missed chances before and missed two more at the start of Tuesday's match, but he scored from a penalty in the 11th minute after the Barcelona goalkeeper hit Pascal Gross.
Guirassy scored with his head to make it 2-0 in the 49th minute. Then, Ramy Bensebaini accidentally scored an own goal, which made things much more difficult for Dortmund. This was a double problem for Dortmund because Bensebaini had been helping them try to come back, including helping Guirassy score his second goal just before.
Guirassy scored his third goal in the 76th minute after Ronald Araujo made a mistake. He took a strong shot from close range. This goal made him the top scorer in the Champions League this season with 13 goals.
This gave Dortmund hope of making a great comeback in the Champions League, like Barcelona did against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, but Barcelona kept their lead and went through.
Barcelona will play either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in the semifinals. This is the first time they have reached this stage of the Champions League since the 2018-19 season. In the other match on Tuesday, PSG also reached the semifinals. They won against Aston Villa with a total score of 5-4, even though they lost the second game 3-2.
It was Barcelona's first loss in any game since December 21st, and their first Champions League loss since September. It was also only the seventh loss in the coach's 50 games leading the team. He had won all seven games against Dortmund before.
Dortmund might have to wait some time before they hear the Champions League song in their stadium again.
The team that finished second in the Champions League last year is now in eighth place in the German football league (Bundesliga). There are only five games left, and they are six points away from the top four teams that qualify for the Champions League.
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