Barcelona have taken a big step towards a spot in this season’s UEFA Champions League semi-finals thanks to a 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. The Blaugrana rebounded from the bittersweet draw against Real Betis at the weekend with an excellent performance at home, and despite a couple of scares at the back the Catalans were by far the better side and scored four good goals to take a strong lead going into next week’s second leg in Germany.
FIRST HALF
Barça made a sensational start to proceedings, overwhelming Dortmund with quick, incisive passes in the final third and several big chances very early on. The Catalans could have easily scored three times in the first 10 minutes, but Gregor Kobel made two huge saves against Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski, and Yamal came close to scoring a spectacular solo goal but dragged his shot just wide.
The Catalans were by far the better side and applied non-stop pressure with and without the ball, and Dortmund were hanging by a thread but still found a way to keep the hosts from scoring. But in the 25th minute came the breakthrough as a Iñigo Martínez won the initial header from a Fermín López free-kick at the far post and Pau Cubarsí’s deflection was touched by Raphinha before it crossed the line and the Brazilian got on the scoresheet to put his team in front.
Hansi Flick’s men looked unstoppable in the first half-hour, but Dortmund slowly managed to grow into the game thanks to Karim Adeyemi who became more influential with his work on the left wing and started to win his matchup with Jules Kounde and provide some very dangerous service for Serhou Guirassy.
Guirassy somehow wasted a monster chance when he found himself one-on-one with Wojciech Szczesny but failed to even make contact with a pretty easy ball, but that was just the warning sign from a Dortmund team that started to present a real threat on the counter and finished the half with some solid chances that tested Szczesny and the Blaugrana defense.
The halftime whistle came to end a period in which Barça should have been comfortably ahead given the quality of their early work and the amount of chances they wasted, but Dortmund were very much still in it ahead of a huge second half in Barça’s quest for a strong first leg result.
SECOND HALF
Dortmund coach Nico Kovac made a strange substitution at halftime, taking off Adeyemi and replacing him with Maximilian Beier. While Adeyemi did have a yellow card and could have been in danger of being sent off, the youngster had clearly been the driving force behind the visitors’ late surge in the first half and a real concern for the Barça defense.
And to make matters worse the visitors conceded just three minutes into the period as Yamal played a beautiful cross to the far post and Raphinha smartly headed it back to the middle to assist one of the easiest goals of Lewandowski’s career, as the Pole headed home from under the bar to double Barça’s lead.
The away side were down two goals and no longer had their most dangerous wing player on the pitch, and they visibly lost the ability to provide true threat either on the counter or in longer possession sequences. Barça also did a much better job of controlling the ball in the middle, and the Blaugrana reached the hour mark as once again the far superior team.
And just like early in the first half, Barça started to create real chances to improve upon their lead, and Fermín came agonizingly close twice in a span of two minutes. Dortmund looked on the ropes and ready to be put out of their misery, and the Blaugrana had an opportunity to pretty much wrap up the tie.
And with 25 minutes to go they took a big step: Yamal played it through to Fermín with plenty of space down the right wing, and Fermín found Lewandowski who doubled his tally on the night with a strong finish to triple Barça’s lead.
Kovac made a couple of changes in midfield trying to give his team a platform to go forward and try to steal a goal on the road and stay alive in the tie, but instead they were made to pay for leaving space at the back: Lewandowski won the ball back in midfield to start a devastating counter, which ended with an assist by Raphinha and a sweet toe poke finish by Yamal to quadruple Barça’s advantage.
Flick wanted to keep a clean sheet after the fourth goal and sent on more defensive-minded players, and we even got a late Ansu Fati sighting as the young forward replaced Yamal at the very end.
Dortmund had very little time to try and get at least one goal to stay alive in the tie, and everyone went forward for the visitors. They created a few dangerous moments in corners and free-kicks, but couldn’t find a way past Szczesny or Ronald Araujo, who came off the bench to make an absolutely incredible goal-line clearance. Beier eventually found the back of the net in the 90th minute, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Barça managed to run out the clock without any further scares in added time, and the final whistle came to give them a crucial victory that gives them a giant chance to advance to the semis. Recent history in Europe suggests Barça cannot take this for granted, especially with a Dortmund team that will use the fuel from the Yellow Wall to fight for their lives next week, but it’s hard to imagine a better position to be in than this.
Well done, boys!
Barcelona: Szczesny; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo (Araujo 81’), Balde; De Jong, Pedri (Eric 81’); Yamal (Fati 86’), Fermín (Gavi 74’), Raphinha; Lewandowski (Ferran 81’)
Goals: Raphinha (25’), Lewandowski (48’, 66’), Yamal (77’)
Dortmund: Kobel; Ryerson (Süle 78’), Anton, Can, Bensebaini; Chukwuemeka (Reyna 67’), Nmecha (Özcan 67’), Brandt; Gittens (Duranville 78’), Guirassy, Adeyemi (Beier 46’)
Goals: None
