Torres hails Barca spirit after Dortmund victory

Ferran Torres credited Barcelona's team spirit after he came off the bench to score a late double that fired them to a 3-2 Champions League victory at Borussia Dortmund.

Torres came on in the 71st minute and struck four minutes later to put Barcelona 2-1 up, after Serhou Guirassy had cancelled out Raphinha's opener.

Guirassy dragged Dortmund level again, but Torres struck his second five minutes from time to hand Barca their fifth successive Champions League win – the first time they have achieved that feat since December 2020.

Torres, meanwhile, became just the fourth substitute to score two or more goals in a Champions League match for Barcelona (after Lionel Messi in 2008 versus Shakhtar Donetsk, Cristian Tello in 2012 against Bayer Leverkusen and Ivan Rakitic in 2015 versus BATE Borisov).

Speaking to Movistar Plus after the game, the former Manchester City forward said: "It's one of those games that make a group, that make us stick together, because we knew how to suffer... instead of falling apart, we reacted very well.

"It's everything, it's recovering our feelings, it's the victory, it's the unity we've shown, it's how we celebrate the goals, which also adds up, and being able to dedicate the victory to all the Barcelona fans who have travelled."

???????? ???????? ?-? ????????? It took a while for this one to get going, but get going it did in the second half. Barcelona came out on top in what ended up being a five-goal thriller to go 2nd in the UCL league phase.#UCL #BVBBarça pic.twitter.com/9JO8vO62Bt

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) December 11, 2024

Coach Hansi Flick also hailed his team for weathering a storm of Dortmund pressure before coming through victorious.

BVB led Barca for expected goals (2.83 to 2.17 xG), touches in the penalty area (25 to 19) and big chances (six to four), but the Blaugrana's ruthless finishing made the difference.

"We can be very happy with what we have done," Flick told reporters.

"The first half was wonderful and in the second half, when they scored, we remained calm and solid.

"Dortmund played very well with players who have a high pace but we did it well. We conceded goals because of mistakes we made.

"We can always improve, but today I have to say congratulations to the team because they did it really well."

Barcelona, who sit second in the Champions League standings with 15 points from six matches, will look to secure direct qualification to the round of 16 when they play Benfica and Atalanta next month.