Analysis: Barcelona's Wingers Shred Dortmund’s Weak Defense 2025

 

Barcelona put more than one foot into the Champions League semi-finals with a dominant 4-0 home win over Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their quarter-final clash on Wednesday, following an outstanding performance

Barça coach Hansi Flick adopted a 4-2-3-1 formation, while Dortmund’s manager Niko Kovač lined up his side in a 4-5-1 setup. The German team struggled significantly with the exceptional quality of Barcelona’s wingers, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.

Flick took advantage of Dortmund's right flank, where Kovač failed to provide defensive support for Ryerson, whose poor coverage contributed to three of Barcelona’s goals.

From the start, Barcelona clearly focused on th

e strong left side, with Raphinha combining well with Balde and exploiting the wide space behind Ryerson — yet Kovač made no adjustments to address that weakness.

For the first goal, Ryerson failed to mark Cubarsí, who set up Raphinha. The Norwegian defender also couldn’t track the Brazilian for the second goal, as Raphinha headed the ball to Lewandowski, who scored.

Ryerson was once again late in covering the Polish striker in the third goal.

Meanwhile, Yamal shone on the right flank, causing significant problems for Algerian star Ramy Bensebaini, who was unable to stop him during the fourth goal sequence.

Throughout the first half, Bensebaini repeatedly lost duels against Yamal, especially since he lacked defensive support from Adeyemi, who made several mistakes and was substituted by Kovač at halftime.

Barcelona’s dominance

The Catalan side effectively neutralized Dortmund's strength — the pace of Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Adeyemi — forcing them into long balls and relying on Guirassy as a target man to build up play through the middle.

Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong dealt excellently with this tactic, standing out in defensive duels.

However, after scoring the first goal, Barcelona went through a lull, during which Dortmund tried to exploit the weak marking of central defenders Cubarsí and Martínez. Guirassy had two clear chances in the 36th and 45th minutes but failed to equalize, before Barça scored their second goal in the 48th minute.

With the home side slowing the tempo, Dortmund resumed their attacking efforts — only for Barcelona to capitalize on the spaces left behind and kill off the game with a third and fourth goal, showcasing their brilliant transitional play.