Barcelona reached its first Champions League semifinal in six years

Barcelona reached the Champions League semifinals for the first time in six years, despite being outplayed and easily defeated 3-1 by Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

A convincing 4-0 home win placed Barcelona in command of their quarterfinal tie against Dortmund last week, but Serhou Guirassy's hat-trick in the second leg piled pressure on the Spanish superpower.

The Guinean international reduced the four-goal lead early on with a penalty before scoring again from close range at the opening of the second half.

Ramy Bensebaini's own goal gave the Blaugrana some breathing room, making it 5-2 on aggregate, but Dortmund continued to assault, with Guirassy completing his triple with 15 minutes left at Signal Iduna Park.

Dortmund, the runner-up in last year's Champions League, appeared to have scored again minutes later, but replacement Julian Brandt was ruled offside.

In the end, Barça won 5-3 on aggregate after facing 18 shots, 11 of which were on target.

Hansi Flick's club is aiming for their first Champions League victory in ten years, when Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Neymar notably spearheaded the team's assault. They will now face either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in the semifinals.

“They have a great team and made life very difficult for us, but we’re through to the next round and that’s what counts,” said Flick. “We didn’t play at our best today but that was also down to Dortmund, who did really well.

“What the team has achieved in recent weeks is phenomenal. We’re now one step further, but we’re still a long way from the end.”

Barcelona's extraordinary sequence of 24 games without a loss, which began on December 21, came to an end with their defeat over Dortmund. In that period, the team has proceeded through two Champions League knockout stages, lifted the Supercopa de España, reached the Copa del Rey final, and surged four points ahead at the top of La Liga.

Barcelona will meet either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinals, marking the first time the club has reached the last four since the 2018-19 season. In Tuesday's other match, PSG advanced to the semifinals with a 5-4 aggregate victory over Aston Villa, despite losing the second leg 3-2.

Barcelona's first loss in all competitions since a 2-1 setback to Atletico Madrid on December 21 was also its first Champions League loss since September, and only the sixth in Flick's 50 games in charge.