Barcelona made a big step towards a place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League of this season thanks to a 4-0 victory against Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their quarter-final. THE Blaugrana Rebounding of the soft-make-up against Real Betis this weekend with excellent performance at home, and despite some fears at the back, the Catalans were by far the best side and scored four good goals to take a strong lead before the second stage of next week in Germany.
First semester
Barça took a sensational beginning for procedures, crushing Dortmund with quick and incisive pass in the last third and several large chances very early. The Catalans could have easily scored three times in the first 10 minutes, but Gregor Kobel made two huge stops against Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski, and Yamal almost scored a spectacular goal but dragged her right shot.
The Catalans were by far the best side and applied a non-stop pressure with and without the ball, and Dortmund was suspended by a wire but always found a way to prevent hosts from scoring. But in the 25th minute came the breakthrough while an Iñigo Martínez won the initial head of a free kick of Fermín López to the distant post and the deviation of Pau Cubarsí was hit by Raphinha before he crossed the line and the Brazilian went on the match sheet to put his team at the front.
The men of Hansi Flick looked unstoppable during the first half hour, but Dortmund slowly managed to develop in the game thanks to Karim Adeyemi who became more influential with his work on the left wing and began to win his match with Jules Kounde and provide a very dangerous service for Serhou Guirassy.
Guirassy Somehow Wasted A Monster Chance when He Found Himself One-One-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 Half with some solid chances that tested szczesny and the Blaugrana defense.
The whistle at half-time put an end to a period during which Barça should have been comfortably in advance given the quality of their first work and the amount of chances they were wasted, but Dortmund was still before a huge second half in the quest for Barça for a strong result of the first leg.
Second half
Dortmund coach Nico Kovac has made a strange substitution for half-time, removing Adeyemi and replacing it by Maximilian Beier. While Deyemi had a yellow card and could have been in danger of being expelled, the young person had clearly been the engine of the late visitors in the first half and a real concern for the defense of Barça.
And to make things worse, visitors conceded only three minutes in the period when Yamal played a beautiful cross to the most distant and Raphinha post returned him intelligently in the middle to help one of the easiest goals of Lewandowski’s career, while the post was heading for the bar of the bar to double Barça’s head.
The outdoor team was down two goals and no longer had their most dangerous wing player on the ground, and they obviously lost the ability to provide a real threat to the counter or in longer possession sequences. Barça has also done a much better work to control the ball in the middle, and the Blaugrana reached the hour mark as once again the team by far superior.
And as at the start of the first half, Barça began to create a real chance of improving their lead, and Fermín got closer twice in two minutes. Dortmund looked at the strings and ready to be put out of their misery, and the Blaugrana I had the opportunity to conclude the tie roughly.
And with 25 minutes to go, they took a big step: Yamal played it to Fermín with a lot of space in the right wing, and Fermín found Lewandowski who doubled his counting at night with a strong finish for Triple Profit of Barça.
Kovac has made some changes in the midfield by trying to give his team a platform to move forward and try to steal a goal on the road and stay alive in the tie, but instead, they were made to pay space in the back: Lewandowski won the ball in the midfield to start a devastating counter-cour The Pointe de la Borché.
Flick wanted to keep a white leaf after the fourth goal and sent more defensive players, and we even obtained a late observation from Ansu Fati while the young attacker replaced Yamal at the very end.
Dortmund had very little time to try to get at least one goal to stay alive for equality, and everyone turned out to visitors. They created a few dangerous moments in corners and free kicks, but did not find a way to pass Szczesny or Ronald Araujo, which came out of the bench to make an absolutely incredible goal line. Beier finally found the bottom of the net in the 90th minute, but the goal was excluded for offside.
Barça managed to miss the stopwatch without further fear in additional time, and the final whistle gave them a crucial victory which gives them a giant chance of advancing in the semi-finals. Recent history in Europe suggests that Barça cannot take this for granted, especially with a Dortmund team that will use the fuel of the yellow wall to fight for their life next week, but it is difficult to imagine a better position to be in that.
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
