FC Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Dortmund: Azulgrana display to reach the Champions League 'semis'

FC Barcelona did not fail at home against Borussia Dortmund. With Montjuïc packed (49,760 spectators), Hansi Flick's team crushed the current European runner-up with authority and good football (4-0), with which the Azulgrana team practically secured their qualification for the Champions League semi-finals, where Inter Milan or Bayern Munich await. Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal provided another exhibition, consolidating themselves as the best trident in the world.

The match was an Azulgrana monologue from the initial kick-off. The player from Mataró had the first clear chance for the home side in the 5th minute, with a shot entering the area from the right that Kobel cleared with difficulty. A minute later, the '19' made another play, this time near the goal line, but after leaving Bensebaini behind, he preferred to shoot at goal with little angle, although the youngster had Fermín López and Robert Lewandowski as possible receivers in the center of the area.

Barça found solutions again from set pieces

Dortmund tried to shake off the suffocating Culé pressure in the opening quarter of an hour, but the Germans held the ball for very little time. The rival center-backs tried to skip lines with long balls to create a counter-attack, but Barça, well positioned with their line near the center circle, recovered without too many problems. In the 24th minute, a foul from the right side caused by Iñigo Martínez ended up opening the match in favor of Hansi Flick's team.

Fermín López took charge of the free kick, sending a cross to the far post where Iñigo appeared to head it down. Pau Cubarsí anticipated to shoot with the tip of his right boot and Raphinha, unmarked, ended up pushing the ball over the line to credit himself with his number 12 goal of the season in the Champions League. Kobel tried to clear the central defender's shot, but barely managed to touch the leather. The semi-automatic VAR validated the Brazilian's position, luckily enabled by a rival. 

Guirsassy spared Barça before the break

The '11' had another very clear chance to extend the Azulgrana advantage in the 33rd minute, but he arrived very pressured to a good pass from Lamine, who had conducted a quick counter-attack from the locals in a masterful way. Dortmund responded with a good one-two between Brandt and Gittens, after a mistake by Barça in the build-up, but Serhou Guirassy, alone against Szczesny, failed in the control when trying to stand in the one-on-one. The Pole caught without problems a shot from Gittens from the edge of the area in the 39th minute, in the best minutes of the 'black and yellow' team in the first half. 

Before the break, the Catalans returned to settle in the rival's half, with long possessions and Yamal as the main offensive card. However, Borussia had another pair of clear chances wasted by Guirassy: one after a cross from Adeyemi from the left, which the '9' missed alone entering the small area, and another where the Guinean did solve well against Cubarsí, but his shot crashed into the side of the net. In this way, the Culés, with two scares, went to the break with an advantage after 45 minutes where they were superior.

Lewandowski destroyed his favorite victim again

Niko Kovac made a change in his XI after the break, with the entry of Maximilian Beier for a cautioned Adeyemi. Gittens warned again with a crossed and distant shot that passed near the Azulgrana goal. Barça responded immediately with another good collective action and this time, unlike the first half, they did have the forcefulness to score a dressing room goal.

Lamine Yamal drove down the right and feigned to shoot at goal, but opted to serve a cross past to the left that Raphinha extended with a header to the center of the goal, just where Lewandowski appeared to define with a header with little angle, but enough to score the 2-0. For the Pole, it was his eleventh goal in the tournament and number 28 in the same number of matches against Dortmund, his favorite victim. 

The 2-0 was a very hard blow for the visitors. Barça regained control of the center of the field and the Germans retreated again near their area to avoid conceding more goals. In the 63rd minute, Fermín López, assisted by Pedri, came close to the third with a crossed shot that grazed the base of the post. Moments later, Lewandowski burned Kobel's gloves with a powerful left-footed shot. The siege continued and Fermín culminated the action with a shot blocked by the rival defense and another that went over the crossbar.

With Barça unleashed, the 3-0 seemed a matter of time. And it was. In the 66th minute, a perfect counter-attack set up by the player from Huelva and Lamine ended in another great goal from Lewandowski. The '16' took advantage of the pass into space from the player from Rocafonda to pass the ball to the middle, just where the '9' appeared to define first-time, with his right foot, shooting Kobel. With his brace, 'Lewy' equaled Raphinha as the top scorer in the Champions League, with 12 goals.

Lamine Yamal settled the tie with a well-deserved goal

In the final quarter of an hour, Flick put Gavi on for a Fermín applauded by all of Montjuïc. The locals managed the advantage without scares and, in the 77th minute, Yamal sentenced the thrashing with another great goal. Raphinha received from Lewandowski and, launched in a run down the left, passed back where the '19' defined with a toe-poke, without giving Kobel options and unleashing the madness in the stands of a Montjuïc that, since the 2-0, was an absolute party. The youngster, however, asked for the change 7 minutes from the end, raising alarms for some muscular injury. Ansu Fati entered for him in the 85th minute, while Ronald Araujo and Eric García did the same in the 81st minute, replacing 

The return leg will be next Tuesday, April 15, at Signal Iduna Park. A stadium where Barça already knew how to win this season (2-3), on the sixth matchday of the league phase. The difference in the aggregate score and the game developed by both teams gives enough reasons to think that everything is resolved, but we must be respectful with a rival that, as a local, is always capable of complicating things for any rival. Before, the Culés will visit Leganés on Saturday, for the 31st matchday of LaLiga. Borussia will do the same in Munich against Bayern.

Match sheet: FC Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Dortmund

• FC Barcelona, 4: Szczesny; Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo (Araujo, min. 81), Balde; De Jong, Pedri (Eric, min. 81); Lamine Yamal (Ansu Fati, min. 86), Fermín (Gavi, min. 75), Raphinha and Lewandowski.
• Borussia Dortmund, 0: Kobel; Ryerson (Süler, min. 79), Anton, Emre Can, Bensebaini; Nmecha (Özcan, min. 68), Chukwuemeka (Reyna, min. 68); Gittens (Duranville, min. 79), Brandt, Adeyemi (Beier, min. 46); Guirassy.
• Goals: 1-0, Raphinha (min. 25); 2-0, Robert Lewandowski (min. 47); 3-0, Robert Lewandowski (min. 66); 4-0, Lamine Yamal (min. 77).
• Referee: Espen Eskas (Norway). Cautioned Adeyemi in the first half, for a grab on Koundé. Also Serhou Guirassy, in the second half, for a foul on Szczesny.
• Stadium: Olímpico Lluís Companys de Montjuïc (49,760 spectators).
• Incidents: match corresponding to the first leg of the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League 2024-25.