First leg defeat to Barcelona too much to come back from – Dortmund's hat-trick hero Guirassy

Photo Credit - Borussia Dortmund.

Guinea international Serhou Guirassy has admitted the damage of qualification for Borussia Dortmund was already done during the first leg of their Champions League fixture against Barcelona at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Wednesday, April 9.

Following the 4-0 defeat in the first leg, Dortmund needed to win the return leg by a four-goal margin in order to force extra-time. However, they managed to win 3-1 in the quarter-final tie at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park and bowed out of the competition.

Dortmund's dream of a football miracle remained alive until the end of a memorable tie. It was Guirassy, who led the way with a hat-trick, opening the scoring from the penalty spot in the 11th minute, but a second goal by Pascal Groß afterwards was disallowed for offside.

Dortmund started the second period as brightly as they had the first. Guirassy doubled the advantage to 2-0 three minutes after the restart, only for Ramy Bensebaini to turn the ball into his own net a short while later. Guirassy's third goal with a quarter of an hour left brought fresh hope, with Julian Brandt also scoring, but his effort was cancelled out for offside.

“I'm proud because we played a great game and I think the fans were very satisfied. They saw good football. The 4-0 scoreline in Barcelona was slightly too much to come back from,” Guirassy said as quoted by the club’s official website.

“It's a shame that we were too far behind in the match of the year. That will serve us as a lesson for future matches. But we fought until the end. Barcelona have a brilliant team, we're also a brilliant team. It's lovely to be the top goalscorer in the Champions League.

“There are very good players. Being first means that I'm a good striker. But I can't do it alone, without the team. It's a shame that the competition ends today.”

Dortmund and Guirassy will now shift focus to Bundesliga action as they have a home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Easter Sunday.