Guirassy's Hattrick Not Enough for Dortmund

DORTMUND, WEDNESDAY — The best night of Serhou Guirassy's career was not enough to produce a miracle for Borussia Dortmund. Guirassy's hat-trick helped Dortmund beat Barcelona 3-1, Wednesday (16/4/2025) WIB, at the Signal Iduna Park Stadium, but the ticket to the Champions League semifinals remains for the Spanish visitors.

Barca secured a ticket to the semifinals thanks to a 5-3 aggregate advantage in the quarterfinals. The team, nicknamed "Blaugrana," will play their first semifinal match since the 2018-2019 season. On the other hand, Dortmund failed to replicate their achievement of reaching the final of Europe's most elite inter-club competition last season.

Guirassy had already put Dortmund ahead when the match had only been underway for 11 minutes. A Panenka-style penalty sparked hope for "Die Borussen" to chase the 0-4 deficit from the first leg at Barca's home ground.

Then, Guirassy scored his second and third goals against Wojciech Szczesny in the 49th and 76th minutes. Meanwhile, Barca's only goal came through an own goal by Dortmund's right-back, Ramly Bensebaini. Bensebaini's intention to block a cross from Barca's attacking midfielder, Fermin Lopez, instead directed the ball into his own net.

Although he failed to lead Dortmund to the semifinals, Guirassy handed Barcelona their first defeat in 25 matches during 2025. Additionally, the Guinean striker ended Blaugrana's record of consecutive away victories in four Champions League matches.

Dortmund coach Niko Kovac emphasized his appreciation for the collective performance of his players, who played much better compared to the first meeting between the two teams at Barca's home ground. However, he did not forget to praise the significant role of Guirassy, who nearly delivered a miracle for Die Borussen.

"Scoring three goals against Barcelona is certainly an impressive performance from Serhou (Guirassy). He is our lifeline and could have scored more goals today. The support of his teammates was key to Serhou's performance," Kovac was quoted as saying by Bild.

Regardless of the disappointing result, Guirassy has established himself as Dortmund's most prolific player in a single Champions League season. He scored 13 goals in 10 appearances in Europe this season.

The number of goals helped Guirassy surpass the record of 12 goals held by Barca striker Raphinha in the list of top scorers in the interim Champions League standings.

Guirassy has surpassed Robert Lewandowski's 10-goal haul for Dortmund in the 2012-13 season, when Lewandowski also scored a hat-trick against Real Madrid.

In the history of participation in the Champions League, Guirassy, who was brought in from VfB Stuttgart at the start of this season, is the fourth Dortmund player to score a hat-trick in the competition. He ranks alongside Dortmund's legendary strikers, namely Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as well as current teammate Karim Adeyemi.

"Guirassy was clinical and dominant in every aspect of the statistical record," said UEFA's Technical Observer Group, which awarded Guirassy the title of best player in the match.

Guirassy scored three goals from four attempts on goal. He also had a 100 percent successful dribble, twice beating Barca defenders.

Dortmund midfielder Pascal Gross said all Dortmund players and supporters had fought together until the last second of the match. He said Dortmund were separated by only a little luck to overturn the aggregate deficit.

"We went into the game with a lot of hope because we knew that in this stadium nothing is impossible. We did everything well and scored early as we planned. The own goal killed the momentum, but our efforts led to the third goal and we were out because of bad luck," Gross told TNT Sports.

Meanwhile, Barca are having their toughest Champions League game of the season, having failed to repeat their 3-2 win at Signal Iduna Park in the group stage in December.

The Blaugrana failed to create a single big chance throughout the 90 minutes. Barca's front three of Raphinha, Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal were isolated. They failed to produce their usual impressive attacking play.

Barca's path to the semi-finals was also heavily influenced by Szczesny's brilliant performance between the sticks. Despite conceding three goals to Guirassy, the Polish goalkeeper made eight saves.

One of Szczesny's finest moments was a double save in the 48th minute, with Gross and Adeyemi taking turns to fire shots on target at the visitors' goal.

Barca coach Hans-Dieter Flick admitted his team played badly and failed to implement the game plan that had been prepared. Even so, Flick said that it was indicated by Dortmund's brilliant performance individually and as a team.

"Dortmund are an extraordinary team who made it very difficult for us. But we are in the semi-finals because that's what counts," Flick was quoted as saying by Marca.

"What the team has achieved in the last few weeks is phenomenal. We have taken another step forward, but we still have a long way to go to the end," he continued.

Next, Barca will face the winner of the duel between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. In the first match, Inter won 2-1 in Germany. The second game will take place at the San Siro Stadium, Italy, Thursday (17/4/2025) at 02.00 WIB.

In the other quarter-final at Villa Park, England, Paris Saint-Germain advanced to the semi-finals despite losing 2-3. The French champions won 5-4 on aggregate.