Barcelona have made it through to the UEFA Champions League semifinals for the first time since 2019 after a whirlwind night in Dortmund.
Hansi Flick’s team looked to have the bulk of the job completed, as they landed in Dortmund with a 4-0 lead from their quarterfinal first-leg win, but the hosts turned up in style in front of their home fans.
Star striker Serhou Guirassy netted a hat-trick, to boost his lead at the top of the UCL Golden boot rankings, as Barcelona lost 3-1 on the night.
That meant Flick’s charges still sealed a place in the final four, via an aggregate win of 5-3, but the German coach has plenty to work on in the coming weeks.
Defeat ended Barcelona’s unbeaten run of 24 games since the start of 2025, as they struggled to lay a glove on Dortmund, with Ramy Bensebaini’s own goal the only time the visitors breached the home goal.
Flick was quick to play down the doom mongers, as he called for calm over the progress being made by his young team in their impressive treble charge, but the post-match stats are a concern for the former Bayern Munich head coach.
A full-time xG of 0.49 is their second-lowest in the UCL this season, after registering 0.40 in their opening game of the league phase – in a 2-1 loss at AS Monaco.
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They also conceded 11 shots on target against as their highest UCL tally of the 2024/25 season.
However, the most eye-catching figure relates to Dortmund’s attacking performance, as they registered an xG of 3.85, a gap of -3.36 against, which comes in as the biggest xG gap between two teams in any single UCL knockout game so far this season – as per Opta data.
Barcelona are through to the semis after enduring the worst single-match xG difference (-3.36) of the 2024-25 Champions League knockout stages. pic.twitter.com/7U9QVsueuA
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) April 15, 2025
That concern will be addressed by Flick in the coming weeks, after he opted to rest Inigo Martinez due to a suspension risk, as a yellow card in Dortmund would have ruled him out of the semifinals
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Barcelona now switch back to domestic matters before the UCL semifinals at the end of April, with two incoming home league games against Celta Vigo and Mallorca, before their Copa del Rey final with El Clasico rivals Real Madrid on April 26.
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