Borussia Dortmund staged a thrilling comeback to beat Lille 2-1 in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday, securing a 3-2 aggregate victory and a place in the quarter-finals.
Lille took an early lead when Jonathan David scored in the fifth minute, putting the French side ahead on the night and in the tie after last week’s 1-1 draw in Dortmund. However, Emre Can equalized for the visitors, converting a penalty in the 54th minute, and Maximilian Beier fired home a superb winner in the 65th minute to send Dortmund through.
Dortmund will now face Barcelona in the quarter-finals next month, having already lost 3-2 to the Catalans in the group stage in December.
This victory provides a massive boost for Dortmund and their newly-appointed coach Niko Kovac, especially as the club sits in 10th place in the Bundesliga. Kovac praised his team’s performance, saying, “For the whole 90 minutes, we controlled the game. It was a fantastic performance.”
Kovac will now face Barcelona’s Hansi Flick, his former assistant at Bayern Munich, in a highly anticipated quarter-final showdown.
The result is a bitter disappointment for Lille, who had hoped to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in their history following an impressive group-stage campaign. They finished seventh out of 36 teams, beating Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, holding Juventus to a draw, and even putting six goals past Feyenoord.
– Frustration for Lille –
Despite the exit, Lille coach Bruno Genesio described the campaign as “satisfying,” though club president Olivier Letang expressed frustration over the penalty decision that led to Dortmund’s equalizer. “I want to emphasize how good a run we had, even if we are frustrated,” Letang said. “But I don’t think it was a penalty, and it changed the game.”
Letang also questioned the appointment of referee Sandro Schaerer, a German-speaking Swiss official. “When I saw who was appointed referee, and that he was a German-speaking Swiss, I thought it was a bit strange. And at half-time, he was speaking to the Dortmund players exclusively in German,” he added.
Lille had been in a strong position after earning a draw in Dortmund last week, and they took the lead in the tie when David opened the scoring early. A low ball from Ismaily on the left was swept towards goal by David, and the ball slipped through the legs of Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
It was David’s seventh goal of the season in the Champions League, but the early setback seemed to galvanize Dortmund. They had a chance to equalize when Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier made a remarkable double save during a chaotic goalmouth scramble in the 20th minute.
Dortmund’s persistence paid off when they won a penalty shortly after halftime. Serhou Guirassy went down under contact from Thomas Meunier, and although the decision appeared soft, Can calmly slotted home the spot-kick. Dortmund came close to taking the lead moments later when Karim Adeyemi hit the bar, but they found their breakthrough on 65 minutes.
Guirassy, who has netted 10 goals in this year’s Champions League, turned provider with a fine ball into the box, and Beier took control before unleashing a powerful shot into the top corner, putting Dortmund ahead.
Lille was unable to recover from that blow, and despite their best efforts, they were eliminated in the last-16 stage, repeating their exits from the same stage in 2007 and 2022.
