Serhou Guirassy and Borussia Dortmund accomplished what no other team had managed in 2025 — they defeated Barcelona, although this proved insufficient to advance to the Champions League semifinals.

Guirassy's remarkable hat trick proved insufficient as Dortmund secured a 3-1 victory over Barcelona, inflicting the Spanish club's first defeat since December, though it wasn't enough to overturn a substantial 5-3 aggregate deficit.

Following a comprehensive 4-0 defeat in the initial leg of the quarterfinal, Dortmund had no alternative but to adopt an aggressive approach on Tuesday, immediately pressurizing Barcelona and consequently disrupting their composure.

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 a premonition that such an outcome was imminent, as he disclosed to the broadcaster Amazon Prime. He remarked, "One must extend congratulations to Dortmund today; they delivered a commendable performance. Equally, commendation is due to my squad for securing their place in the semifinals."

Barcelona's main attackers, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, who had scored many goals in the Champions League this season with 12 and 11 goals each, did not play as well as usual. The closest they came to scoring was a weak shot from Raphinha towards the goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.

Following a match which further solidified his burgeoning reputation and propelled him to the top of the Champions League scoring charts this season, coach Niko Kovac described Guirassy as Dortmund's "life insurance," adding, "Serhou requires nothing more than the backing of his colleagues, as is true for any forward, and he received precisely that today."

Dortmund had arguably suffered a decisive setback in the first leg of the quarterfinal, compounded by the fact that captain Emre Can and midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka were earlier ruled out due to injuries.

For a period, Guirassy appeared to achieve the improbable.

Guirassy had missed chances in the first game and missed more chances early in the second game, but he scored from the penalty spot in the 11th minute after Barcelona's goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, crashed into Pascal Gross.

Guirassy's header extended the lead to 2-0 in the 49th minute, followed by a Ramy Bensebaini own goal that compounded Dortmund's difficulties. Fermín López's low cross deflected in off Bensebaini's ankle, a particularly unfortunate turn of events for Dortmund given the defender's pivotal role in their attempted comeback, having assisted Guirassy's second goal moments earlier.

Capitalising on a defensive miscue from Ronald Araujo, Guirassy secured his hat-trick with a commanding close-range strike in the 76th minute, thereby emerging as the Champions League's leading scorer for the season with 13 goals.

This gave Dortmund new hope of making a great Champions League comeback, like Barcelona did against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, but Barcelona managed to hold on and go through.

Barcelona is set to contend with either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in the semifinals, marking their first appearance in the Champions League final four since the 2018-19 campaign. Concurrently, in Tuesday's other fixture, PSG secured their place in the semifinals following a 5-4 aggregate victory against Aston Villa, notwithstanding a 3-2 defeat in the second leg.

Beyond being Barcelona's initial defeat across all competitions since a 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid on Dec. 21, this marked their first Champions League setback since September and only the seventh loss during Flick's tenure of 50 matches. The German coach had previously secured victories in all seven encounters against Dortmund while managing Barcelona and Bayern.

It could be some time before the Champions League anthem echoes through Dortmund's stadium once more.

The team that was the runner-up in last year's Champions League is currently eighth in the Bundesliga, six points adrift of a Champions League qualifying spot with five matches left to play.