Dortmund fight back to beat Lille, 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.

“For the whole 90 minutes we controlled the game. It was a fantastic performance,” Kovac told UEFA.com.

He will now come up against a Barcelona side coached by Hansi Flick, his former assistant at Bayern Munich.

The result 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.

– ‘Frustration’ for Lille –

Their coach Bruno Genesio insisted it had been a “satisfying” campaign despite the exit, but club president Olivier Letang was unhappy about the decision to award the penalty from which Dortmund equalised.

“I want to emphasise how good a run we had, even if we are frustrated,” before questioning the decision to appoint