Dortmund fight back to beat Lille and reach Champions League quarters / Photo: © AFP
Dortmund fight back to beat Lille and reach Champions League quarters
Borussia Dortmund recovered from losing an early goal to fight back and beat Lille 2-1 in France in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday, sealing a 3-2 aggregate victory and a place in the quarter-finals.
Jonathan David gave Lille an early lead on the night, putting the French club ahead in the tie after last week's 1-1 first-leg draw.
However, Emre Can squared things by converting a penalty for Dortmund on 54 minutes, and Maximilian Beier then fired in a fine winner for last season's runners-up.
Dortmund will now face Barcelona in the quarter-finals next month, having already lost 3-2 at home to the Catalans during the league phase in December.
The result is a huge boost for Dortmund and their recently-appointed coach Niko Kovac, coming as the club languishes in 10th place in the Bundesliga.
It is a massive disappointment for Lille, who were hoping to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in their history after an outstanding performance during the league phase.
They finished seventh out of 36 teams, beating both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid on the way, while also holding Juventus and putting six past Feyenoord.
Lille appeared to be in a strong position after coming from behind to draw in Dortmund last week, and they went in front in the tie when Canada forward David scored in the fifth minute.
Ismaily's low ball in from the left was swept towards goal by David, somehow going in through the legs of Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
It was David's seventh goal in this season's Champions League, but it seemed to galvanise the visitors.
They were denied an equaliser by a remarkable double save from Lille 'keeper Lucas Chevalier in the midst of a goalmouth scramble on 20 minutes.
Dortmund applied pressure and were rewarded when they won a penalty shortly after half-time as Serhou Guirassy went down under contact from Thomas Meunier.
Can fired in the spot-kick, and Karim Adeyemi then hit the bar for Dortmund before they found what proved to be the winner on 65 minutes.
Guirassy, who has 10 goals in the Champions League this season, was the provider but Beier still had work to do as he controlled the ball in the box before firing a lethal shot high into the net.
Lille could not recover from that blow as they went out in the last 16, just like in their two previous appearances at this stage of the competition, in 2007 and 2022.
A.Davey--TNT
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