(Football news) With a place against Inter Milan or Bayern Munich on the line, for both of these sides there is added incentive to reach the last four.
Barcelona will still want to exercise the demons of their semi-final defeat to Inter in 2010, while Dortmund could make up for years of torture at the hands of Bayern as they seek to reach back-to-back finals.
The task for the German side looks huge, though, given the scintillating form Barcelona are currently in, having gone unbeaten in 22 games, winning 18, but they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Real Betis over the weekend, with Natan cancelling out Gavi’s early opener.
A quadruple remains in sight, though, for Barcelona who have already won the Spanish Super Cup, and advanced to the Copa del Rey final courtesy of their 5-4 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid last midweek.
Ferran Torres got the only goal in the second leg at the Metropolitano, after an extraordinary 4-4 draw in the first meeting, but before an El Clasico final in that competition, Barca have both legs of this Champions League quarter-final to play, as well as three winnable La Liga fixtures against Leganes, Celta Vigo and Real Mallorca.
The fact that a Clasico final could occur in two separate competitions, while the two are still battling for the title, suggests this could be one of the finest seasons of all time in Spanish football, but the race for the La Liga crown took a huge turn at the weekend with Los Blancos losing to Valencia at home.
Flick will only be focused on his own team’s exploits though, and attention will shift to this first leg with Dortmund, with the two now meeting in Spain after facing off at Westfalenstadion during the league phase.
Ferran was the hero again for Barca, netting two late goals in a 3-2 victory after Serhou Guirassy had equalised twice for BVB, and they will feel confident of taking a lead back to Germany next week, with the view of reaching a first semi since 2019.
Barca have never lost in five previous meetings with Dortmund, and manager Flick has a perfect 100% record against them, with six wins from six across his time with Bayern, and including the league phase success.
The odds are even further stacked against Dortmund when you consider they have won on just three of their 20 trips to Spain, with a 5-2 defeat at Real Madrid earlier this season adding to that poor record, even though they did briefly lead 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Barca will know they cannot take Dortmund lightly though, because despite a very poor domestic campaign, the Yellow-Blacks have been a force in Europe recently.
Dortmund’s only knockout-stage defeat in their last eight was in last year’s final at Wembley to Real Madrid, and they have won three in a row on the road in such matches.
It is a good job their form in Europe remains good, because winning this competition will surely be the only route back into the competition for Niko Kovac’s men next season.
A weak Bundesliga means, somehow, Dortmund’s top-four hopes are still alive, after back-to-back wins against Mainz and Freiburg, but currently lying in eighth, five points off fourth, those chances remain slim.
Also read: Manchester United winger has his stance at his loaned club
