According to “Varzesh3,” Barcelona, after a 4-0 victory in the first leg against Borussia Dortmund, practically secured their place in the Champions League semi-finals, a success they have not achieved in this decade. In fact, the Blaugrana have not reached the penultimate stage of the competition since the 2018-19 season. At that time, they suffered one of the most heartbreaking defeats in the club’s modern history in the semi-finals.

The team, coached by Ernesto Valverde and led by Lionel Messi, won the first leg at Camp Nou with a convincing 3-0 scoreline. Luis Suárez scored the first goal, and Messi added two more in the closing minutes, while Dembélé missed a chance for a fourth goal in added time. Liverpool, missing key attackers in the second leg at Anfield, crushed Barça. With an outstanding second-half performance, they won 4-0 and advanced to the final.

Since then, Barcelona have not reached the Champions League semi-finals. The following season, they were humiliated in the quarter-finals by Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich: 8-2 in Lisbon, in a single-leg match due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 2020-21 season, under Ronald Koeman, Barcelona were eliminated in the round of 16 by Paris Saint-Germain; PSG sealed the tie with a dominant 4-1 victory in the first leg. The situation worsened in the next two seasons, as Barça failed to advance from the group stage and were forced to play in the Europa League.

Last season, under Xavi Hernandez, Barcelona had a chance to reach the semi-finals. They won the first leg of the quarter-final 3-2 in Paris against PSG, but in the return leg at Montjuïc, after Ronald Araújo’s early red card, they lost 4-1.