Ricken: "We've gained ourselves a reputation in Europe" | OneFootball

There was a mixture of pride, relief, but also a hint of shame in the celebrations in the away dressing room in Lille. Karim Adeyemi expressed it clearly: "Suffering a bad result in the Bundesliga almost every week – and then playing so well in the Champions League, it's tough," says the attacking player, whose performance on Wednesday night was representative of the team's as a whole. He was partly at fault for Lille's opening goal early on, but Adeyemi's challenge in the 51st minute to win the ball off an opponent served to break up an attack and also initiate a long sequence of BVB possession which culminated Emre Can's pass to Maxi Beier, who then slipped it forward into the area for Serhou Guirassy. The Guinea international was brought down and the referee pointed to the penalty spot – the score was soon 1-1. The game had turned on its head. More on that later.

"The team stood firm, they pulled themselves together, fought hard and fashioned good goal-scoring opportunities. They once again showed what they're capable of," said Lars Ricken, who offered up some wisdom for the team moving forward: "The important thing is that they perform as a team. Together you can simply achieve more."

Emre Can led the way. He held the defence together, he won a lot of important tackles, and he sent out a signal when, five minutes before the end, he gave Maxi Beier and Julian Brandt long embraces as they left the pitch to make way for fresh legs. The captain emphasised: "I have no idea how much ground Maxi covered down the left side. That was really really good. And I think Julian had a good game today after a few difficult weeks. Hopefully that will do him good. I'm happy for him. We as a team have to give him strength, we have to stand behind him. The boy is not alone."

Brandt had a good game, and Beier was exceptional (as was Julian Ryerson). Beier had a part to play in the build-up to the equaliser, then he scored the winner with a perfectly-placed shot into the top-right corner. "That was the icing on the cake of his performance, because what he did defensively in particular was really good," said Nico Schlotterbeck in praise of his teammate. In his 86 minutes and 46 seconds on the pitch, Beier covered a total of 11.132 km. "The number of balls he chased after was really good," said Ricken.

Coach Niko Kovac praised the reaction to the early and avoidable goal conceded in the 5th minute. "The only positive was the fact it happened at the beginning of the game, so we still had 85 minutes left. The team showed a brilliant reaction. The way they did it makes me proud and happy too."

Now Borussia Dortmund will face Barcelona, who they went toe-to-toe with at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK in the league phase, ultimately falling to a very unfortunate 3-2 defeat. BVB are the outsiders, no doubt, but that was also the case against Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals last season. "They have an unbelievably dominant midfield with Pedri, and Lewandowski, Yamal and Raphinha up front. That's a level of quality shared by few other teams in Europa," said Schlotterbeck, who nonetheless views it as a big positive that the second leg will take place in Dortmund: "I hope we can keep it relatively balanced in Barcelona and then write a happy ending in the second leg." Lars Ricken also pointed out another advantage for the Black & Yellows: "We've gained ourselves a reputation in Europe." Barca will come into the tie full of respect for the task at hand.

A task that will be particularly relished by Niko Kovac. Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick was Kovac's assistant during his spell in charge of Bayern Munich. "We spoke on the phone just recently," reveals Kovac, adding: "It was Hansi's birthday, and we mentioned that we might end up facing each other in the quarter-finals." Toni Tapalovic is also an assistant coach at Barca. "I have his brother working by my side here. So there will also be a family reunion..." says Kovac.