Borussia Dortmund advance to Champions League quarter-finals, Niko Kovac urges players to make the most of possession

Borussia Dortmund came from a goal behind to beat Lille 2-1 in the second leg of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League round of 16, thanks to goals from Emre Can and Maximilian Bayer. Niko Kovac said it was a well-deserved win and called on the team to make the most of every opportunity to have the ball in future games.

Jonathan David scored the first goal five minutes into the match, giving Lille a 1-0 lead. In the 54th minute of the second half, Girasi was brought down by Lille defender Meunier when he dribbled into the penalty area, and Dortmund was awarded a penalty. Emre Can then scored from the penalty spot, helping Dortmund tie the score at 1-1.

In the 65th minute, Giraci assisted Maximilian Bayer to score, helping Dortmund to overtake 2 to 1. In the end, Dortmund eliminated Lille with a total score of 3 to 2 away from home and successfully advanced to the top 8 of the Champions League.

In addition, Dortmund's opponent in the Champions League quarterfinals is La Liga giants Barcelona.

Dortmund coach Niko Kovac said, "This was a great team effort. We made great efforts and it was a well-deserved victory. Although we conceded a goal first, the team still controlled the game and created three good chances that were cleared by Lille on the goal line, including a shot that hit the post. For an away game in the Champions League, we created a lot of chances. This is enough to show that this team has the corresponding strength and is suitable for participating in this kind of game."

"Lille is a team that is strong in possession, but Barcelona is much stronger than them, so we have to make the most of the ball. When we don't have the ball, we have to defend well. But we also have good players and speed to create threats for the opponent."

Emre Can, who scored for Dortmund in this game, said, “Many people didn’t think we could do it, and then we lost such a bad goal. This can’t happen again. We lost the ball very casually, and then we created opportunities but failed to seize them. But in the end we tried our best and played with passion.”

"The team deserves credit, it was a great day. In today's football, you can't play without intensity and we did a great job in that regard."