Barcelona produced a sublime display of attacking football to thrash Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the home leg and more or less guarantee a place in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League. The star trio of Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha all scored as last season’s beaten finalists were routed.
It took Barcelona 25 minutes to break through after they were given a free kick for a ridiculous hair-pull on Jules Kounde by Karim Adeyemi. Inigo Martinez nodded the ball back across the six-yard box and Pau Kubarsi deflected the ball past Gregor Kobel. Raphinha applied the finishing touch on the goalline.
Dortmund created chances of their own, with Adeyemi’s pace and trickery a constant threat to Barcelona’s high line. But Serhou Guirassy, their Guinean striker, had a miserable night. Put clean through, he had an air shot, and then he rifled one into the side netting.
“A 4-0 is a fantastic result” – Hansi Flick
Sure enough, Barcelona made them pay in the second half. First, Yamal’s cross was nodded back by Raphinha for Lewandowski to head in right under the crossbar. Then, in the 66th minute, the 36-year-old Polish forward netted his 29th goal against his old club after a lovely square ball from Fermin Lopez. To round things off, Lewandowski turned creator, playing one into Yamal’s path for him to almost pass into the far corner of the net.
“A 4-0 is a fantastic result, but I know Dortmund, I know what it’s like to play there,” said Hansi Flick, Barcelona’s coach, after the game, tempering expectactions. But after a couple of days where they have also seen Real Madrid, their bitter rivals, thrashed by Arsenal, Barcelona fans are in dreamland. And surely, a first Champions League semi-final since 2019 beckons.
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