Barcelona ‘justified’ semi-final spot despite Dortmund loss, says Flick

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said his side deserved to reach the Champions League semi-finals despite a 3-1 loss in the second leg at Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. 

Barcelona’s 4-0 win at home in the first leg left Dortmund needing a miracle to reach the last four for the second straight season. 

The Germans made the visitors sweat, with Serhou Guirassy scoring a hat-trick in a dominant victory, but Barcelona’s first-leg lead was enough to see them reach the semis for the first time since 2018-19. 

“We played two games and it’s justified that we’re through. I don’t want to talk too much about my team, because it wouldn’t be fair to Dortmund,” said Flick. 

“They made our lives very hard but what was important is we made it to the semi-finals.”

Through to the Copa del Rey final and four points ahead in La Liga, Barcelona remain on track for a treble. 

Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez, whose pass led to the Ramy Bensebaini own goal, said the experience would make the Catalans stronger. 

“Dortmund have a really good team, you saw that today. Last week we made them suffer at our place. Today we suffered here, but in the end we were able to limit the damage,” said the 21-year-old. 

“We’re now in the semi-finals and can draw a lot of strength from this game today because it was a big task.”

The defeat was Barcelona’s first in any competition in 2025 and Flick said he had “full trust that we’ll get back on track”.

“Now’s the time to celebrate what we’ve done, getting to the semi-finals, then we can get back to analysing what’s ahead of us,” added the German.