And that’s all from me! Bye!
Meanwhile Sid Lowe was in Barcelona to watch the home side’s front three ooze through Borussia:
There is another game to be played but on this evidence, Barcelona will do so for just the fun of it, and there may be no one having as much fun as they are right now. A semi-final place is virtually secure with a second leg to spare after all three of their fantastic forward line scored en route to a 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund at Montjuic, the last of them scored by a kid who even at 17 may have a case to be considered the best player on the continent.
Robert Lewandowski, with two, and Raphinha got the others, taking Barcelona to 144 goals this season and almost certainly to the next round. They will take some stopping; Dortmund couldn’t do it, certainly. only momentarily did they even get close on a night that began and ended with Barcelona.
Much more here:
Ben Fisher was at the Parc des Princes to see Paris Saint-Germain come from behind to beat Aston Villa, and here’s his report:
Luis Enrique is regarded as the manager who finally transformed Paris Saint-Germain from a team of individuals into a team but that does not prevent players from expressing themselves. For Exhibit A, see Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s preposterous strike that helped earn PSG a deserved advantage heading into the second leg of this quarter-final. Exhibit B was a beauty, too, Désiré Doué sending a rasping strike in off the woodwork after Morgan Rogers gave Villa a shock first-half lead. By the end it was 3-1, 29 shots to six and it was tempting to wonder quite how many full-backs Unai Emery would require to cage PSG’s ravenous front three.
Much more here:
Here’s a snipped from Hansi Flick on Barcelona’s front three:
They’re important but when you see our defence it’s also good, also the players who came from the bench, they’re on the same level. And at the moment this is very important because we have a lot of matches. It’s tough for the guys and I really appreciate what they are doing.
Barcelona looked very good, but the chances Borussia missed will give them just the merest glimmer of hope. If they’d taken a couple of them the tie would have a very different complexion, and who’s to say* that they won’t create and then convert a couple in the first half next week to set them on their way to an astonishing comeback?
* Everyone, yes, I know
Meanwhile a stoppage-time goal in Paris takes the score to PSG 3-1 Aston Villa, and that game is also now over.
Final score: Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Dortmund
90+4 mins: And that’ll do! Barcelona make a massive stride towards the semi-finals with a convincing victory over a Borussia Dortmund that made enough chances to have scored a couple of their own, but having failed to do so now look very close to doomed.
Updated
90+3 mins: Barcelona should probably have had another there, but Fati missed an easy chance to play in Raphinha.
90+1 mins: There’ll be three minutes of stoppage time, or somesuch.
89 mins: Borussia have the ball in the net, but the flag goes up! The ball is played across the pitch to Duranville, whose centre runs to Beier, who sweeps in – but Duranville was offside!
88 mins: Chance for Borussia, but Ronald Araujo throws himself in the way! And another, but he does it again!
86 mins: Barcelona make their substitution.
85 mins: Yamal has been asking to be taken off for a few minutes, but it’s taken Ansu Fati a while to get himself ready to replace him, which he now is.
84 mins: From which they force Szczesny into a save, Sule improvising a cute volley that never looked like beating the keeper but at least made him do a bit of work.
83 mins: A lovely turn by Gio Reyna briefly opens up some space in Barcelona’s penalty area, but it’s closed again before he can shoot. Still, a corner.
80 mins: And a triple substitution for Barcelona, who take off Inigo Martinez, Lewandowski and Pedri and bring on Ferran Torres, Ronald Araujo and Eric Garcia.
79 mins: A double change from Borussia, who take off Ryerson and Gittens and bring on Julien Duranville and Niklas Sule.
GOAL! Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Dortmund (Yamal, 77 mins)
Borussia lose the ball cheaply again, and they’re punished again! When Barcelona rob them just inside their own half, Lewandowski intercepting a pass intended for Anton, they’ve suddenly got three on one, and they’re too good to mess it up. Raphinha plays in Yamal, and his finish is low, hard and flies past Kobel before he can move.
Updated
75 mins: Lewandowski thinks he’s fouled when challenged by Can but the referee doesn’t give it. So he gets up and challenges Can – this time he doesn’t think there’s a foul but the referee thinks there is. Lewandowski is very grumpy about all of this, but I think the referee was right both times.
74 mins: And now Barcelona make their first substitution, bringing Gavi on for Fermin Lopez.
73 mins: Borussia win a free-kick on the right, send it straight into the arms of Szczesny, and Guirassy earns a yellow card for stopping him from starting a quick counter.
71 mins: Borussia win a corner, which is delayed for an age because players insist on bumping into each other and falling over.
68 mins: Borussia take off Chukwuemeka and Nmecha and bring on Giovanni Reyna and Salih Ozcan.
GOAL! Barcelona 3-0 Borussia Dortmund (Lewandowski, 66 mins)
This is an excellent goal! A Borussia move breaks down on the edge of the Barca penalty area and the home side break. Fermin Lopez echanges passes with Yamal, the return playing him into all sorts of space on the right. He passes infield to Lewandowski, who slams a low, hard, first-time shot past Kobel!
Updated
65 mins: Another chance for Fermin Lopez! And another! Yamal crosses just too high for Lewandowski but it runs through to Lopez, whose shot hits Can and rebounds back to him, but this time he clears the bar.
63 mins: And they nearly get it! Kounde’s cross from the right is straight to Can but his clearance is rubbish, Pedri collects and passes to Fermin Lopez, and his low shot from just inside the area goes just wide.
60 mins: It is as if Borussia would now be happy to take a mere two-goal deficit back to Dortmund, and Barcelona are relatively content with a two-goal advantage, though they continue to rather gently seek a third.
57 mins: Barca keep the ball, pass it around, no hurry, no pressure.
54 mins: They’ve threatened a few times, but Borussia have looked a bit like Bundesliga also-rans for much of the evening. More than anything they just give the ball away too cheaply and too often, which against a side as comfortable in possession as this Barcelona is not a healthy habit.
52 mins: Meanwhile in Paris, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has given PSG a 2-1 lead.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (Lewandowski, 48 mins)
From barely a foot out, Robert Lewandowski doubles Barcelona’s lead! Yamal cuts inside from the right and chips a cross to Raphinha, beyond the far post, who heads back across for Lewandowski to nod in.
Updated
47 mins: Gittens, who seems to have started this half on the left, where Adeyemi spent the first, cuts inside and sends a low shot zipping just wide of the far post.
46 mins: Peeeeep! The second half is under way!
The players are back out! Well, most of them – Maximilian Beier has come on for Adeyemi, who was on a booking and had pushed his luck a couple of times.
Half time: Barcelona 1-0 Borussia Dortmund
45+2 mins: And that’s it! Barcelona have the lead at the break, but it’s been nothing like as one-sided as the first seven or eight minutes suggested it was going to be. The home side might be 10-5 up on shots and 5-1 ahead on shots on target, but that’s only because Guirassy, twice, when given a good scoring chance, completely missed the ball.
45+1 mins: Guirassy doesn’t miss this kick, turning past Inigo Martinez before lashing a left-footed shot into the side netting. Just the one minute of stoppage time is signalled.
45 mins: Another chance for Dortmund, Adeyemi crossing from the left and Guirassy once again completely missing the ball.
44 mins: Inevitably the Germans’ defence then opens up, but the move ends with Fermin Lopez sending in a weak shot from the edge of the area.
43 mins: Barcelona are passing the ball about. It’s all technically lovely, but Borussia have numbers in defence and appear vaguely in control.
41 mins: Szczesny also makes an easy save, from Gittens’ dribbly 20-yarder.
Updated
41 mins: Raphina has the ball on the edge of the area, and tries an audacious, high-stakes pass to Lewandowski. The ball does eventually fall to the Pole, who tries an overhead kick and presents Kobel with an easy save.
40 mins: Er, now it’s 1-1.
39 mins: In tonight’s other Champions League game, Aston Villa have taken a 1-0 lead over Paris St-Germain in Paris.
36 mins: What a chance for Borussia! It’s a lovely ball chipped over the last defender by Chukwuemeka and Guirassy only has to tap it past Szczesny – but he completely misses it!
34 mins: Borussia have half a chance, a shot charged down in the area, and a few seconds later Yamal so nearly plays in Raphinha, but the ball is just beyond him.
32 mins: That’s a getting-rather-silly 12 goals, and 17 goal involvements, in 11 Champions League games this season for Raphinha.
29 mins: Yamal is played in down the right and has an easy(ish) pass to set up Raphinha for an easy chance to his left, but it’s on his right foot and he completely fluffs it.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Raphinha, 25 mins)
The free-kick is sent to the back post, headed back in and turned goalwards by Cubarsi. It beats the keeper and is rolling into the net when Raphinha throws out a leg to help it over the line. There’s a long VAR check because Raphinha was only just onside when Cubarsi kicked the ball, and really he shouldn’t have touched it at all.
Updated
25 mins: Adeyemi is booked for trying to manoeuvre Kounde out of his way with a tug of the hair.
24 mins: Barcelona aren’t even being forced to work for possession, Borussia are just handing it to them, again and again. This is not a wise tactic, I fear.
23 mins: Barcelona keep the ball for an age but this time a very marginal decision goes against them, De Jong punished for not really committing a foul.
19 mins: A novel corner routine from Barcelona, which involves Raphinha reentering the pitch from behind the goal, obviously unmarked, and being passed to. They don’t score from it, which is just as well because it would have cause one hell of a rumpus.
17 mins: Borussia try to break from a Barcelona corner, but Balde brings Chukwuemeka down and the referee charitably lets him get away with it.
15 mins: Guirassy nearly gets on the end of a right-wing cross, but he doesn’t, and he was also very obviously offside for almost the entire move.
13 mins: A more sane few minutes, in which Barcelona haven’t shredded the Borussia defence once.
10 mins: This too curls out of play, but it does at least bounce on its way through.
9 mins: But now the visitors win a corner of their own, Gittens’ cross deflecting behind.
8 mins: Barcelona are making a complete mess of Borussia in these early stages, just turning their defence into so much woodchip.
7 mins: Save! Raphinha is played in down the left again. This time Lewandowski hangs back on the edge of the area and is picked out by the pull-back, but his finish is too central and Kobel keeps it out.
Updated
6 mins: And Yamal shoots again! A lovely trick to get past Bensebaini on the right, but he tries an audacious/ludicrous shot from a near-impossible angle rather than attempting a pass.
5 mins: Save! A lovely backheel from Lewandowski in the build-up, and Yamal gets the ball, cuts onto his left foot and shoots too close to Kobel.
4 mins: Which is curled over the six-yard box and back out of play on the far side.
3 mins: Raphina finds space on the left, but Bensebaini clears his low cross for a corner.
2 mins: Barcelona, on the break, cross the halfway line for the first time.
Commentator: “… and this is where Barcelona can hit you so hard!”
Barcelona: Turn around, play ball gently backwards.
1 min: Peeeeep! Borussia take the centre, and immediately pump the ball downfield and out of play.
Right, preambles completed, anthem played, hands shaken, coin tossed.
Out come the players! Is there any stopping Barcelona in this competition, and if so are Borussia the team to do it? We’re about to (go some of the way towards) find(ing) out!
Updated
Apparently there are 560 accredited journalists for this game, setting a new record, as well as representatives of 88 rights-holding broadcasters. This strikes me as probably too many.
This is a strong look from Raphinha. Serious yeah-and-what-you-gonna-do-about-it vibes.
The teams!
Team news has landed, and tonight’s line-ups look like this:
Barcelona: Szczesny, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde, De Jong, Gonzalez, Yamal, Lopez, Raphinha, Lewandowski. Subs: Pena, Kochen, Araujo, Gavi, Torres, Fati, Torre, Christensen, Victor, Garcia, Fort, Gerard.
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel, Bensebaini, Anton, Can, Ryerson, Nmecha, Chukwuemeka, Adeyemi, Brandt, Bynoe-Gittens, Guirassy. Subs: Meyer, Laurenz Lotka, Yan Couto, Ozcan, Reyna, Beier, Duranville, Svensson, Sule, Watjen, Kabar.
Referee: Espen Eskas (Norway).
Updated
Hello world!
Borussia Dortmund won seven of their first 10 games this season, happy times when they stuck four past Phonix Lubeck (yeah, I know), Heidenheim and Bochum and seven past Celtic, when their season was ripe with hope and optimism (even if all three of the non-wins were in the Bundesliga and they were therefore only sixth in the league when the run ended with three successive defeats ). Now they are eighth, three points behind Monchengladbach in sixth and also three points above 12th-placed Wolfsburg, the side that dumped them out of the German Cup back in October.
They have, in short, turned out to be not very good. Yet here they are, in the last eight of the Champions League, travelling to Barcelona and declaring, as their coach Niko Kovac did yesterday, that “we came here to win”. He has, it transpires, a cunning plan: “They have a lot of strengths but every opponent has weaknesses and we want to use them,” Kovac said. “It would not be wise to say what we have planned but we have an idea.”
Barcelona have played 22 games so far in 2025 and have lost none of them. They have at some stage been winning every one, even if they have been pegged back to draw four of them. They top La Liga and have a Copa Del Rey final to look forward to later this month. Their biggest worry would appear to be overconfidence. “Dortmund have a lot of classy players and they are in the quarters for a reason,” insists Hansi Flick, their Swabian coach. Well, we’ll see about that.
Welcome!
