Hansi Flick betters Xavi as Barcelona reach Champions League semi-finals

It wasn’t pretty in the end, but Barcelona just about did enough to book their place in the Champions League semi-finals despite a 3-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. The Catalans’ 4-0 victory in last week’s first leg made the difference as they progressed 5-3 on aggregate.

There has been a lot of praise for Barcelona this season, with many supporters and pundits claiming that significant progress has been made since Hansi Flick’s arrival as head coach last summer. The German head coach has instilled a very entertaining style of play, and on occasion, they have been utterly dominant in matches too.

But interestingly, Barcelona were at the same point as last season prior to Tuesday’s match, as Diario AS have highlighted. In La Liga, they are on 70 points after 31 matches, which is the same as the 2023-24 campaign, which was Xavi Hernandez’s last as manager.

But the big difference is now in the Champions League. Last season, Barcelona had been in an excellent position to reach the semi-finals after a 3-2 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in Paris in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. But a second leg capitulation saw the Catalans exit the competition – and although it looks like similar could have happened in Dortmund, it proved not to be the case in the end.

It is clear to see that Barcelona are making progress under Flick, even if it is not as much as many people have thought. They are well-placed for a historic treble of La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey, and the next few weeks will be crucial as to whether those aspirations can become a reality.

The goal for Barcelona is to keep winning matches. The defeat in Dortmund was their first in 2025, and Flick’s task will now be to ensure that another unbeaten run starts for his side.