Barcelona sneak through after Serhou Guirassy’s treble gives Dortmund hope

In the end, it was comfortable enough for Barcelona, despite Serhou Guirassy’s hat-trick. They weren’t able to hold the ball and command through possession as they might have liked but they always had clear water. There were spells, though, when they were distinctly uneasy and, but for an own goal that came at just the right time for them, this might have been a very awkward evening. “I had a feeling something like that would happen today because I know the stadium well,” said the Barca manager Hansi Flick, once of Bayern. “Things didn’t go too well for us, but Dortmund played very well. The things we played out weren’t what we normally do.” It was a tie, though, that raised doubts about Barcelona as potential champions. There is much to admire about Flick’s Spanish league leaders but theirs is a high-risk game and more precise opponents than Dortmund might have exposed them. Barcelona’s 4-0 home win last week had in effect settled the tie. The result was that the buildup was notably convivial. As blue and garnet mingled with yellow and black outside the various pizzerias and pubs on a humid spring afternoon in the Alter Markt, there was a disorienting sense of wandering through the idealised world of an advert. If there was jeopardy for Barcelona it was only in conceding early – which they did. Twice in the past eight years they’ve squandered three-goal first-leg leads, to Roma and Liverpool. There were past traumas there for Dortmund to awake before the fury of the Yellow Wall. The 4-3-3 of last week was gone and its place Niko Kovac preferred a 3-4-2-1. The extra bodies in the middle allowed them to pressure Barcelona much more quickly and higher up the pitch than a week ago, and Flick’s side did not respond well. Continue reading...

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