Barcelona are through to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, but not after surviving an almighty scare away at Borussia Dortmund, slipping to a 3-1 defeat but progressing 5-3 on aggregate.
The Spanish visitors traveled to Germany with the plan of staying on the front foot and looking for goals to seal the tie, but their high-line and aggressive approach was anticipated by Dortmund, who created a host of chances on the night as they threw everything at pulling off the unlikeliest of comebacks from 4-0 down.
The impressive Serhou Guirassy was the main man on the night, scoring a hat-trick for a rampant Dortmund and opening the scoring with a Panenka penalty in the 11th minute, having already failed to convert two excellent early chances.
Guirassy added two more in the second half, both from close range, while Dortmund also had two further goals ruled out for offside, as the hosts racked up 18 legitimate attempts on goal, 11 of which were on target.
But Barcelona’s attacking approach meant they always had threat too, and one of their many attacks saw a low cross deflect off Ramy Bensebaini for an own goal that sucked much of the life out of the tie.
Guirassy’s third did set up a potentially nervy finale, but it wasn’t to be and it is Barcelona who progress to the final four, where they will play either Internazionale or Bayern Munich for a place in the final.