Niko Kovac: We Delivered a Great Match, and Girassi Was Amazing

Despite the exit from the UEFA Champions League, Niko Kovac, the head coach of Borussia Dortmund, expressed his great pride in his players' performance after defeating Barcelona 3-1 in the second leg of the quarter-finals held at Signal Iduna Park.

The German team needed a historic comeback to compensate for the 4-0 loss in the first leg, and despite delivering a strong performance in front of their fans, the ticket to the semi-finals went to Barcelona with an aggregate score of 5-3.

Kovac said: "We all watched a wonderful match tonight, especially from my team, the game was filled with excitement and a lot of attacking pressure."

He continued: "I feel a great disappointment for our exit from the tournament, but today we handed Barcelona their first defeat in 2025, and that is something to be proud of."

He added: "We were completely different from the first leg, we played with more courage, and there was greater decisiveness and focus in our performance."

He noted: "Our fans were a very influential factor in the match, the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing, and I am grateful for that."

He affirmed: "Playing this way against a great team like Barcelona deserves all the appreciation and praise."

He concluded his statements by saying: "It's hard to choose just one player, everyone was great, but Girassi scoring a hat-trick against Barcelona is unbelievable, he could have scored more today, but he received excellent support from his teammates, and that's what we always need."