Hansi Flick had a feeling that his team might have a tough day at Borussia Dortmund’s home ground—and that’s exactly what happened.
Barcelona’s disappointing performance in Dortmund didn’t come as a shock to their head coach. Flick had sensed something like this could happen. Despite the loss, he’s happy—because in the end, they secured a spot in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
In the second leg of the quarter-finals on Tuesday, Barcelona lost 3-1 to Dortmund. However, thanks to their dominant 4-0 win at home in the first leg, they advanced to the last four with a 5-3 aggregate score.
Barcelona’s attack lacked bite throughout the match. Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, and Raphinha struggled to find rhythm, repeatedly getting overwhelmed by Dortmund’s defense.
The Spanish side’s only goal came from an own goal by the opposition, while Dortmund’s forward Segu Gigasi stole the show with a hat-trick.
The match statistics further reflected Barcelona’s off-day. Despite edging out Dortmund slightly in possession, they managed only seven shots, with just two on target. Dortmund, on the other hand, took 18 shots, hitting the target 11 times.
Flick admitted that he anticipated a difficult outing in Dortmund but was ultimately pleased with the outcome.
“Dortmund played very well. It wasn’t a good day for us. I had a feeling something like this would happen, because I know the atmosphere in this stadium very well.”
“Our performance wasn’t great, but Dortmund played excellently. Still, congratulations to my team—we’re in the semi-finals. We’re happy. I’m very happy for the team and for the club.”
Barcelona will now face either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in the semi-final.
