Serhou Guirassy and Borussia Dortmund achieved a feat no other team had managed in 2025 – they overcame Barcelona; nevertheless, it proved insufficient to advance to the Champions League semifinals.

Even though Guirassy scored three goals, his team still lost overall by a score of 5-3. This happened because Dortmund won their game against Barcelona 3-1, which was Barcelona's first loss since December, but it wasn't enough to win the whole match.

Having suffered a resounding 4-0 defeat in the initial leg of the quarterfinal, Dortmund played with a sense of liberation on Tuesday and adopted an aggressive stance from the outset against Barcelona, unsettling the visiting side.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick, who often played against and beat Dortmund when he was in the German league, said the strong support from the home fans meant he thought the second game would be difficult, even though his team was four goals ahead.

Flick conveyed to broadcaster Amazon Prime, "I had a premonition that something akin to this might unfold." He added, "Today, one must extend congratulations to Dortmund; they delivered an impressive performance. Furthermore, commendations are due to my team, who have secured their place in the semifinals."

The match proved uncharacteristically subdued for Barcelona's usually prolific attacking duo, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, who had amassed 12 and 11 Champions League goals respectively throughout the season. Their closest attempt at finding the net was a rather meek effort from Raphinha, directed towards the Dortmund goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel.

Following the game, coach Niko Kovac lauded Guirassy as Dortmund's vital asset, remarking on the player's swift ascension to prominence and his current leading position among Champions League scorers for the season. "Serhou," Kovac stated, "simply requires the backing of his colleagues, as is the case for any forward, and this was provided today."

Dortmund's quarterfinal hopes were arguably compromised in the first leg, and were further hampered by the pre-match withdrawal of captain Emre Can and midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka due to injury.

For a period, Guirassy appeared to defy expectations.

Having squandered opportunities in the initial leg and a few more early in Tuesday's fixture, Guirassy ultimately converted from the penalty spot in the 11th minute following a collision between Barcelona's custodian, Wojciech Szczesny, and Pascal Gross.

Guirassy's header extended the lead to 2-0 in the 49th minute, followed by an own goal from Ramy Bensebaini that compounded Dortmund's difficulties; the own goal resulted from Fermín López's low cross deflecting off Bensebaini's ankle, a particularly harsh blow for Dortmund considering the defender's pivotal role in their attempted comeback, having just assisted Guirassy's second goal.

Guirassy took advantage of a mistake by Ronald Araujo to score his third goal in the 76th minute with a strong shot from close range. This made him the top scorer in the Champions League this season with 13 goals.

This result gave Dortmund new hope of making a great comeback in the Champions League, which could have been as famous as Barcelona's against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, but Barcelona kept their lead and went through.

Barcelona is set to play either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in the semifinals, marking their first appearance in the Champions League last four since the 2018-19 campaign. In the other match on Tuesday, PSG secured their place in the semifinals with a 5-4 aggregate victory against Aston Villa, notwithstanding a 3-2 defeat in the second leg.

This defeat marked Barcelona's inaugural loss across all competitions since their 2-1 setback against Atletico Madrid on December 21st. Furthermore, it represented their first Champions League defeat since September and merely the seventh loss in Flick's impressive fifty games at the helm. The German manager had previously secured victories in all seven encounters against Dortmund while managing both Barcelona and Bayern.

Dortmund's home ground may not resonate with the Champions League anthem for some time.

Last year's Champions League finalist is currently eighth in the Bundesliga standings with five matches left, trailing the Champions League qualification spots by six points.