Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund summary: goals, score, stats & highlights | UEFA Champions League quarterfinal
Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Dortmund: as it happened
Full-time thoughts:
Question: Can anyone stop Barcelona when they play like that?
The combined skill, directness, flair, talent, link-up play, understanding and confidence of the front three of Barcelona really is a sight to behold when they're on song, like they were tonight.
Despite their best efforts, Dortmund learned very quickly that they were going to have little to no chance when it came to defending the fabulous front three, with Lewandowski getting a second half double in between a goal from Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
The last goal, from Lamine Yamal, was particularly impressive, with the Pole winning the ball back high up the pitch before springing into a counter attack with his wingers either side. Raphinha played to the youngster whose finish will run wild across social media, an arrogantly assured poke of toe enough to push the ball past Kobel.
Guirassy will rue his missed chances but on the night Dortmund were nowhere near Barcelona's level, and will have to perform a miracle of epic proportions if they are to get their fans believing in getting anything inn the next game.
Simply put, when Barcelona play like that, it's easy to see why they are favourites to be crowned the best team in Europe.
That's all folks!
Thanks for following the coverage of another fantastic night in the Champions League!
Joe
And breathe, Barcelona fans...
Reports are emerging out that Lamine Yamal is OK after asking to be substituted in the second half of the game. While nothing is confirmed at this time, that's certainly positive.
Raphinha equals Messi
The winger has equalled Messi in goal contributions in a single season by a Barcelona player. Not bad...
Barcelona dominated the game from start to finish
This handy graphic shows just how superior Barcelona were to their opponents on the night, with Dortmund hardly creating anything noteworthy against Inigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí.
Post-game comments:
Key to the match
"I think we played very well, but we're not thinking about the semifinals yet. It doesn’t matter where we play, we always want to play our style of football. In Dortmund, we're going to win and play our game. Very happy. If you have a 4–0 in the first leg, in the second one you have to play the same or even better. It doesn’t matter how many goals we have, it’s the Champions League and we want to give our best."Performances of Lamine Yamal and Raphinha
"We play as a team, that’s the most important thing. What matters is scoring for Barcelona. We understand each other on and off the pitch, we have a lot of potential. It’s a big step, but we have four more to go."Another top performance despite his age
"In my head I always aim to help my team with my quality, but if we play well, it’s better for everyone."
Possible offside in the first goal
I was worried it might have been offside, I had doubts—thankfully, it was given. I told Cubarsí that I’d touched the ball before the line, I apologised, and he said it was fine, that he’d count it as an assist. It was a quick play—I stuck my foot out in case it was going out.
His connection with the front line
I love playing with such high-level players—we know each other really well. That’s super important. We’re putting up incredible numbers.
Already in the semifinals?
There’s still another match. It’s always tough to play in front of their fans. We got a good result, and now we need to put in a strong performance next week.
Is that result enough?
It's football, and especially over there, they're going to come at us hard because they have nothing to lose. The cushion we have is big, getting knocked out there would be really tough—I hope it doesn’t happen. We're going there to win, not to play it safe. Now we have to focus on the league.
The current level of the squad
This is a team. When we get it right, we all get it right—that’s the first thing the coach made clear to us. We have a lot of ambition, and I hope that never goes away.The team's improvement
Football is all about momentum, and it’s hard to break out of a slump. We had a rough patch against some beatable teams in LaLiga—with all due respect—and we got through it. Every time we play football, we enjoy it.Current form of the team
There are times when, if you're not at 100%, you have to step aside like I did the other day. These are situations that keep you from playing. Luckily, the medical staff is always there to help us.
Here's how Sofascore saw the game
The stats nerds at Sofascore Towers have put together this handy graphic of how the game went.
Pedro Salado / Getty Images
Lewandowski: the man who does not age
Robert Lewandowski, at the ripe age of 36, has now reached 40 goals this season, with his double against Dortmund pushing him past the milestone. Flick deserves endless credit for keeping him going at this point in the season, as his role in the side is as key as the two wingers without a doubt.
What more can we say about these two?
They are the flair either side of Lewandowski's killer instinct, and all three parts were firing against Dortmund.
Sensational stuff from Barcelona
Raphinha, Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal completely tore apart a Dortmund side who failed to land a single blow.
FULL-TIME!
WHAT A PERFORMANCE FROM BARCELONA
We're into the final minute as Dortmund look to claw something back against this rampant Barcelona team.
Guirassy is slipped though nicely but the ball gets caught under his feet, and he ends up running it out of play. It's not been a great night for the Dortmund number 9....
3 minutes added on.
We're into the final minute of normal time.
OFFSIDE!
It won't count. A Dortmund player was offside in the buildup and the linesman correctly raised his flag.
Barça change
OFF: Lamine Yamal
ON: Ansu Fati
Well, well, well, here comes Ansu Fati!
Again a Dortmund corner looks dangerous and again Guirassy misses the ball.
It looks like Lamine Yamal is asking to be taken off...
Gittens does well to beat Kounde and fire in a cross that's deflected behind by Araujo. The ball in is dangerous but Barcelona survive.
Barça triple change:
OFF: Pedri, Lewandowski, Iñigo
ON: Ferran, Eric, Araujo
Ten to go and we're back underway.
WHAT A GOAL
A stunning counter attack from Barcelona saw Raphinha, Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal all race forward against two defenders after the Pole won the ball back high up the pitch.
He played left to Raphinha who took it forward before crossing low to Lamine Yamal. The finish was superb: the forward used his toe to literally poke the ball past Kobel who was caught in no man's land.
iñigo Martínez steps in and easily clears a poor Dortmund cross from the left, as the Germans dare to venture forward into their attacking third.
Barcelona change:
OFF: Fermín
ON: Gavi
A long wait for Ryerson to send in the free-kick ends in exasperation from the BVB fans as his poor cross is caught easily by Szczesny.
Twenty minutes to go, and I can only see more goals for Barcelona unless something radical changes.
Back underway...
It's a sensational counter from Barcelona. Lamine Yamal plays a wonderful ball through the lines to Fermín. The midfielder races down the wing and sends a cross to Lewandowski, whomakes no mistake and fires past Kobel to surely seal the result for the electrifying home side.
How has he not scored?!
Fermín bends an effort towards the far corner that is blocked. The rebound lands back at his feet and his second bite of the cherry is smashed high and wide!
POST!
Emre Can's clearance is terrible and it lands with Pedri, who feeds Fermín on the edge of the box. His shot skims the far post and flies away from goal.
The home side currently have their opponents pinned into their defensive third as Lamine Yamal floats from left to right, causing all sorts of danger and spinny eyes for the defensive line.
We've had an hour of play and the intensity is still there from the two sides, despite a dip in the number of clear-cut chances.
Possession so far is 63% - 37% to the home side, who are in free flow.
Anton sweeps up again as Pedri looks to slide a pass through the lines for Lewandowski, who can't quite run quick enough to latch on and see himself 1vs1 with a grateful Kobel.
The movement from Barcelona's front line is seriously impressive.
On the ball, runnersaredirect, fearless and ambitious, often catching pessimistic defenders completely unaware as they try something that most would never dream of. It must be great to watch as a fan.
Unlike Donald Trump, Dortmund are not letting the deficit get to them, and are pushing for a break in this tie. Their possession is still positive, but they can't find a way through as it stands.
Meanwhile, back in Barcelona, the home side are having a great time, with their fiery passes zip-zip-zipping about the park.
A little birdie has just told me that PSG are 2-1 up against Aston Villa...
Well, whatever gameplan switches Niko Kovac had have just been thrown in the bin. Dortmund have it all to do as Barcelona are purring here...
Stunning play from Barcelona
Lamine Yamal clips a beautiful pass from right to left, that's met by Raphinha. The Brazilian heads the ball across goal where Lewandowski is waiting to tap home with his forehead.
Gittens breaks forward, cuts inside and fires off a shot towards the far post that flies wide of the goal.
And we're off again!
Second half underway...
BVB switch things up
OFF: Adeyemi
ON: Beier
Here come the players for the second half!
Let's see if we get any changes at the break.
The other kid is quite good
Cubarsí has broken yet another record, with Opta picking this one up.
Barça - BVB: stats at half-time
xG: 2.12-0.74
Big chances: 2-2
Shots: 11-5
Saves: 2-4
Passes completed: 322-149
In the game in Paris, the score is 1-1 at half-time, thanks to a tap-in from Rogers and a sensational strike from Doué to level things up.
Goal controversy clarified:
The Brazilian winger was well onside when Cubarsí tipped the ball towards goal, meaning Barcelona fully deserve to be ahead.
Half-time!
A strong end to the half from Dortmund, who will argue that they perhaps deserve to be level. Nevertheless, that doesn't take away from Barcelona's relentless attacking style, and they've looked deadly at times.
CHANCE FOR DORTMUND
Guirassy again, again! The forward does superbly well to to turn Cubarsí inside the box and fire off a rocket of a shot that crashes into the side netting.
CHANCE FOR DORTMUND
Guirassy again! Nice work from Dortmund who play down the left with Adeyemi, and his cross is a fine one indeed, that skims off the boot on the end of the outstretched leg of the striker.
A poor Fermín shot easily saved by Kobel is the result of solid defending by the Germans, who have closed the spaces between their lines over the last 5 to 10 minutes.
Dortmund are, for now, content to sit in their 4-4-2 mid block and watch Barcelona play from left to right and back again.
Five to go of normal time in this half.
Kobel easily saves Lewandowski's shot as the forward is facing away from goal. The question is with Raphinha, who decided the play the ball into the Pole instead of having a go himself when alone on the edge of the box.
While things are going well for Barcelona, you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at Hansi Flick, who is flapping his arms so much he might just take off.
Iñigo Martínez does superbly well to head back to Szczesny, dealing with a difficult long ball from Dortmund that was aimed towards Guirassy.
WHAT A CHANCE FOR GUIRASSY
The ball is clipped over the Barcelona defence by Nmecha and lands perfectly for Guirassy inside the box - who misses the ball completely!
What a golden opportunity for Dortmund, out of nowhere.
CHANCE
And again! Lamine Yamal sends Raphinha through but the Brazilian is stretching as he tries to make contact with the ball and it's into the side netting.
Yet another cut-throat attack from Barcelona is just about stopped by Dortmund, who manage to stick a leg in and poke the ball away from their goal.
Chukwuemeka is penalised for a foul on Cubarsí; it's a little harsh as the Englishman was falling to the ground as he collided with the defender.
A chance goes begging for Barcelona as Lamine Yamal, believe it or not, makes an error in his delivery and the cross is played too close to Kobel for Raphinha to get on the end of it.
Adeyemi gets booked for saying something naughty to the referee.
Back underway...
Fermín's free kick is sent to the far post, where it's played across goal by Martínez.
Cubarsí gets a touch to send it towards goal, although now it looks like an offside Raphinha was the last player to touch the ball before it went over the line...
PAU CUBARSÍ
Kobel is quick off his line to stop the danger as Kounde's low, driven pass is threaded behind the backtracking defensive line of Dortmund, with Lewandowski and Raphinha lurking like nosey neighbours.
Frustrated groans from the crowd as it looks like Balde is away, only for our favourite Norwegian to blow his whistle for a previous foul as he won the ball.
Dortmund have resorted to direct play over the past couple of minutes, with Adeyemi and then Brandt hitting successive long passes that both get cut out by a stern defensive line.
Twenty minutes in and the game is very intense, with both sides pressing all over the pitch. Barça have edged things in terms of chances, but their opponents have definitely got it locked in when they can take advantage of the space and attack.
Bensebaini heads Raphinha's cross behind for a corner as the former Leeds United man does well again down the left wing.
While Barcelona have had the clearer chances, Dortmund do seem to know where to tickle them.
Foul blown against Balde, who trips Chukwuemeka as the former Chelsea midfielder looks to break. No card for the defender, who can count himself very lucky.
CHANCE FOR DORTMUND
The away side counter down the right and the ball is sent towards Guirassy, who can't reach it despite trying to grow one hundred sizes to do so...
Anton sweeps up and latches onto Raphinha's heavy touch but that was sensational from Barcelona and Koundé in particular, who did superbly well coming in off the right side to find the Brazilian through the middle of BVB's defence. The home side are dripping in confidence.
It's nice from Guirassy who does well to hold the play before laying off to Nmecha in the centre circle. A terribly hit pass from the ex-Manchester City youth player flies over the top of the Barcelona defence and into touch.
Dortmund attack and win a corner that's hit way over the heads of everyone in the box...
SAVE FROM KOBEL
It could be 3-0 here already. Raphinha burns past his marker down the left before cutting back to Lewandowski on the penalty spot, whose shot is high and central, and palmed away by Kobel.
AMAZING FROM LAMINE YAMAL
The boy, eh... Lamine Yamal goes full Ronaldinho against Ryerson, sending him left then right with one touch before flashing a shot across goal and out at the far post.
SAVE!
Lamine Yamal receives the ball on the right side of the box, cuts inside and fires a shot towards the far post that's well saved by Kobel.
The first attack of the night comes down Barcelona's left side, with Raphinha, who sends a low drive across goal that's spooned behind.
Warning lights flashing already for Dortmund.
The home side are flying into the tackles and have begun the game very aggressively, looking to get into the faces of the players in yellow.
Barcelona, as expected, start brightly, and have Dortmund on the turn, running towards their own goal almost instantly.
And we're off!
The away side get the ball rolling from right to left.
The Chaaaampiooooonsss!
I have to say, I'm very impressed with the atmosphere ahead of this game. And we're just seconds away!
Frenkie de Jong to Spanish TV:
"All the players we have in the squad have a lot of quality. Fermín too. He has already played there several times this season, so it's nothing new. Pedri? It's very easy to play with him
Teams are in the tunnel...
The fans are on edge, waiting for the 22 players to emerge onto the field of play!
Good news!
Borussia Dortmund will be playing in their home kit, which means we've got a lovely colour combo for the eyes.
What an atmosphere inside the ground!
Forget what I said earlier about the stadium sometimes being flat, the German crowd have definitely brought their best singing voices - as have the Barça fans!
Ten to go!
The players have made their way into the dressing rooms for the final team talk ahead of kick-off!
A reminder of the starting XIs:
Barcelona:
GK: Szczesny
DEF: Koundé - Cubarsí - Martínez - Balde
MID: De Jong - Pedri - Fermín
ATT: Lamine Yamal - Lewandowski - Raphinha
Borussia Dortmund:
GK: Kobel
DEF: Ryerson - Can - Anton - Bensebaini
MID: Chukwuemeka - Nmecha - Brandt
ATT: Gittens - Guirassy - Adeyemi
Here's how Opta see the game
Barcelona are by far and away the favourites for the game tonight, with Opta's supercomputer giving them close to a 66% likelihood they'll go through.
Have your say!
Thoughts on Flick choosing Fermín over Gavi?
Keep an eye on Raphinha...
The Brazilian winger has turned into a monster since his move from Leeds United, and Barcelona fans will be breathing a collective sigh of relief that they didn't sell him in the summer, with plenty of teams rumoured to be interested in securing his signature.
Hansi Flick handing him even more responsibility seem to have been the key to unlocking the beast: he has scored 11 goals in 10 Champions League games this season.
In the league, he has 13 goals and 10 assists in 28 matches played, and has been a huge threat to pretty much every team he has faced so far.
Some seriously cool vibes from Raphinha here tonight
One man's 'cool' is another's 'no thanks', and I'm sorry to say that I'm the latter.
Don't forget, we've got live updates from Paris as PSG host Aston Villa in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Here's what went on last night in the Champions League quarter-finals.
We saw a huge result from a rampant Arsenal side as well as a shock result for Inter away at Bayern.
A reminder of the team news:
Hansi Flick has fielded his strongest starting XI, with Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Marc Bernal, Dani Olmo and Marc Casadó out of action.
As for the away side, manager Niko Kovac also has a substantial injury list to deal with: Mané, Sabitzer, Wätjen and Schlotterbeck are all out.
They’re also without Pascal Groß, who is suspended for the fixture.
Niko Kovac pre-game comments:
Of course, we're very sad that Nico (Schlotterbeck, editor's note) is injured. He was looking forward to this game, like we all are. Pascal Groß won't be playing either because he's suspended. But otherwise everyone is on board at the moment.
It wouldn't be sensible for me to start philosophising now about everything we're planning. I think we have a good idea of what we need to do. It's about the players feeling confident and bringing everything that's needed to the pitch for us to win the game. We want to perform here tomorrow so that we can go back to Dortmund with a good result.
Barcelona are certainly the favourites. But as you know, BVB were in the final last year - and no one expected that. In football anything is possible, especially when you're already in the quarter finals. And they're elite quarter finals.
There are some great teams, including ourselves. And we've worked hard and fought hard for that. We might be going into it as the outsiders, the underdogs, but that certainly doesn't make it any easier for our opponents. We're confident in ourselves, and we have every reason to be. We're on an upward trajectory. In these two games - Barcelona will be coming to Dortmund as well - there's no doubt that we're in with a chance of reaching the semi-final.
Hansi Flick pre-game comments:
Dortmund are a very stable team and they play very attacking football. But we have been playing well at home and away in the Champions League. It hasn't been easy to get here and it has all been thanks to the very hard work that everyone has been doing.
Dortmund are a very stable team and they play very attacking football. But we have been playing well at home and away in the Champions League. It hasn't been easy to get here and it has all been thanks to the very hard work that everyone has been doing.
It's not been a great season for Dortmund
Perhaps this might come as a surprise if you've not been following Dortmund or the Bundesliga, but they sit 8th in the domestic division, having won just 12 of 28 so far.
They're only 5 points off the Champions League spots in the league, but they'll need to seriously turn on their form if they want to make a fist of it before the season ends - there are just 6 games to go until it's all over.
UWE KRAFT / AFP
Who is Niko Kovac?
We all knew Nuri Sahin, the former Real Madrid midfielder who was sacked from his post as head coach at Dortmund earlier in the season. So for those of you who don’t know Niko Kovac, here’s a little background…
The German is a veteran of football management, despite being just 53-years-old. His most recent job ahead of being hired by BVB in February was at Wolfsburg, where he oversaw the team for 2 years.
He has had stints at Monaco, Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as dipping his toe into international football with Croatia.
As a player he played for Hertha, Bayern, Salzburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger.
Who to watch: BVB
I’m stuck between Adeyemi and Guirassy, but let’s go with the latter. Barcelona centre back Iñigo Martínez has been in sensational form recently for his side, but Serhou Guirassy will certainly give him a tough game today.
Solid physical ability coupled with ninja-like movement and a keen eye for goal all add up to make him one of the most interesting attackers in Europe this season.
He has 10 goals in 12 Champions League games this season and 15 in the domestic competition, making him their top threat tonight.
Lars Ricken, scorer of one of Dortmund’s most iconic goals – the one that helped them win their only Champions League – spoke to AS about the upcoming game against Barcelona.
Who to watch?
Lamine Yamal is the obvious choice, so I’m going to go for Frenkie de Jong. The Dutch midfielder has seen plenty of speculation fly around regarding his future in Spain with Barça, but recent games have seen that quieten down as a result of his seriously impressive performances on the pitch.
While he’s not one for scoring or getting many assists, he provides a huge sense of balance to the Barcelona midfield, and allows Pedri to do pretty much whatever his legs want him to do.
While Raphinha, Lewandowski and Lamine will catch the headlines should Barça put on a good showing today, don’t forget about Frenkie, who will be the ticking metronome behind them.
Wolfgang Rattay / REUTERS
We've seen this game before...
The two teams have, as mentioned, already faced each other this season. The game was played on 11 December at the BVB Stadion Dortmund and it was a late Ferran Torres goal that sealed the three points for Hansi Flick’s side.
Serhou Guirassy caused problems all night long, managing to score a brace, but an effort from Raphinha and a late brace from the former Valencia and Manchester City man made sure that Barça took home the prize.
Get ready for a big noise tonight!
Both sets of fans have been in fine voice ahead of kick-off, and it's not surprising when you see just how many Borussia Dortmund fans have travelled to Spain!
Borussia Dortmund's XI is in!
Gittens starts, as does Chukwuemeka, in a starting XI from Kovac that is full of beans.
Here's the confirmation of Flick's starting XI:
It's pretty much as we expected, with Hansi Flick answering the Gavi/Fermín question, opting for the latter.
Surely we'll see Gavi at some point in the night, given how important he has been when available.
BARCELONA XI REVEALED:
GK: Szczesny
DEF: Koundé - Cubarsí - Martínez - Balde
MID: De Jong - Fermín - Pedri
ATT: Lamine Yamal - Lewandowski - Raphinha
Fabio Deinert - UEFA / UEFA via Getty Images
BVB: road to the quarter-final
Dortmund have been a curious team so far this season in the Champions League, serving up entertaining games that have gone both ways for them.
Statement early wins over Celtic and Club Brugge came before a capitulation to Real Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, and from then on they flip-flopped from impressive wins to sorry losses, with a defeat at Bologna the final straw for the board who moved to sack head coach Nuri Sahin.
They beat Sporting CP in the Round of 16, but tonight is their toughest game of the season, without a doubt.
JOAN MONFORT / DIARIO AS
Barcelona's road to the quarter-final
After losing to Monaco in the opening game of the Champions League season, Barcelona have turned on the style and have won all but 2 other fixtures in the competition.
They beat Young Boys, Crvena Zvezda, Brest and Benfica, as well as statement wins over both Bayern Munich and tonight’s opponents, Borussia Dortmund.
They qualified directly into the Round of 16, where they comfortably dispatched Benfica 4-1 over two legs, with many tipping them as potential favourites to go all the way in the competition.
FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Who's the ref?
The man with the whistle tonight is one Espen Eskas, who just so happens to be my favourite Norwegian referee. He’s a regular in Europe’s elite competitions, with plenty of Champions League, Europa League and Conference League games under his belt.
Mr Eskas will already be checked off your spotters guide if you’re a fan of the Norwegian Eliteserien, where he has overseen close to 200 games.
Albert Gea / REUTERS
How things look ahead of kick-off...
You may have noticed that FC Barcelona are not playing at Spotify Camp Nou, and they haven’t been for a while.
Instead of the famous bowl, the Estadi Lluis Companys up the Montjuïc mountain, where the 1992 Summer Olympics were held.
It has a capacity of around 55,000 seats which is quite a nice size, but the flat, athletics-style layout doesn’t lend itself to the best of atmospheres.
Team news: BVB
As for the away side, manager Niko Kovac has a substantial injury list to deal with: Mané, Sabitzer, Wätjen and Schlotterbeck are all out.
They’re also without Pascal Groß, who is suspended for the fixture.
Team news: Barcelona
Hansi Flick looks set to field the strongest starting XI at his disposal today, with Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Marc Bernal, Dani Olmo and Marc Casadó out of action.
The biggest question surrounding his selection process is whether or not he’ll go for Fermín or Gavi in the middle, but either way he’s got a very strong squad from which to choose.
And we're off!
Hello there and welcome to the ASUSA live coverage of the fascinating Champions League quarter-final game between FC Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, which will be played on Spain’s northeast coast.
It’s Joe here today to take you through the game as it happens, but stay tuned for now to get all the pre-game coverage ahead of kick-off.