Kovač: Dortmund Deserved to Lose Against Barcelona

Croatian coach Niko Kovač, head coach of Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, did not hide his disappointment and admitted that his team deserved the 0-4 defeat at the hands of Spain’s Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday night.

Dortmund now faces an extremely difficult task in the return leg next week, especially as their former Polish striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice for the Catalan side.

Kovač told DAZN: “Quite clearly, we deserved the loss.”

He added: “We conceded one goal due to individual brilliance, and three from counter-attacks—that’s too many. We simply cannot lose the ball like that; it’s part of the problem, but we must make better decisions.”

The Croatian coach explained: “There are certain things you get punished for at this high level.”