Barcelona reach Champions League semis despite 3-1 defeat to Dortmund

Barcelona have reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the first time in six years, winning 5-3 on aggregate against Borussia Dortmund after losing 3-1 in the second leg on Tuesday.

Dortmund's striker Serhou Guirassy scored all three goals in the match, completing a hat-trick and handing Barcelona their first loss in any competition this year. However, the Spanish giants had already built a strong 4-0 lead from the first leg, which helped them progress to the next round.

Barcelona will now face either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in the semi-finals, depending on the result of Wednesday's match between the two.

After the game, Barça coach Hansi Flick said, "Dortmund did very well. It wasn't our best performance. I had a feeling this would be a tough game because I know this stadium well. Still, we're in the semi-finals, and that makes me very happy."

Dortmund started strongly, needing a big win to overturn the first-leg result. Guirassy gave them the lead in the 11th minute with a clever chipped penalty. They continued to pressure Barcelona and dominated most of the first half, while the Spanish side struggled to finish their chances.

Just four minutes into the second half, Guirassy scored again with a header after a corner, raising hopes of a dramatic comeback. But that hope was quickly dampened when Dortmund's Ramy Bensebaini accidentally scored an own goal under pressure from Robert Lewandowski, making it 2-1 on the night.

Barcelona nearly added another goal when Fermín López missed a chance in the 64th minute.

Guirassy completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute after a defensive mistake, becoming the first Dortmund player to score 13 goals in a single Champions League campaign. However, with Dortmund still needing two more goals to force extra time, their energy faded in the final minutes.

Dortmund midfielder Pascal Groß said, "We wanted to play with more courage and support each other more. We did that today, it was a completely different game compared to the first leg. It's just a shame we didn't play like this earlier."

Despite the loss on the night, Barcelona celebrated a major step forward as they moved one step closer to Champions League glory.