Barcelona coach says 'We’re not through yet' to CL semifinals despite Dortmund demolition

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski struck again to lead Barcelona to a commanding 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Lewandowski scored twice and Raphinha had a goal and two assists, leaving the Catalan club in a strong position to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2019.

Lamine Yamal also scored as Barcelona dealt a commanding blow to the German side's hopes of advancing.

“We’re not through yet," Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said. "Winning by this many goals is important and, when a team plays as well as that, goals normally do flow. We aren’t thinking we are through because you simply never know what might happen. Football is madness. We’ll be determined to play like this again next week.”

The return match is on Tuesday at Dortmund, which was last year's runner-up to Barcelona rival Real Madrid.

“We played very well but we can’t be thinking about the semifinals yet,” Lewandowski said. “We scored four goals at home but we still have the return leg to play.”

Raphinha added to his Champions League-leading tally by poking the ball into the open net in the 25th minute for his 12th goal in the competition this season. He than helped set up Lewandowski’s first goal of the night in the 48th.

“I play with teammates of such a high level here," Raphinha said. "We all know each other really well and that relationship level helps us as a team. Our stats are spectacular this season and I just hope that continues.”

Lewandowski scored his 11th Champions League goal with a one-timer in the 66th before Yamal closed the scoring in the 77th after another assist from Raphinha.

The 17-year-old Yamal has four Champions League goals, the highest by any player before the age of 18.

The 36-year-old Lewandowski has scored 14 Champions League goals after the age of 35, two more than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lewandowski had scored 17 of his 105 career goals in the Champions League for Dortmund over three seasons from 2011-14.

The Poland striker is the Spanish league’s leading scorer this season with 25 goals. He has scored 40 goals in all competitions this season.

Lewandowski is the third player to score 105 Champions League goals, not counting qualifying matches, after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to UEFA.

“In my head I always want to be helping the team with my quality and my goals,” Lewandowski said. “A striker always needs to be thinking about scoring goals, and when the team plays well it becomes easier for me.”

Raphinha has scored in each of Barcelona’s last four Champions League knockout stage matches, with seven goals in that span.

He entered the match with 11 goals, one more than Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane.

“Our three guys up front are terrific and very important but so is our defense,” Flick said.

Raphinha said he apologized to teammate Pau Cubarsí after the match for "stealing" his goal. The defender's attempt was about to go across the goal line when Raphinha touched it.

Barcelona, a five-time European champion, last won the title in 2015.

Also Wednesday in the quarterfinals, a wonder goal from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia upstaged a brilliant curling shot from teammate Désiré Doué as Paris Saint-Germain beat Aston Villa 3-1.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, center, attempts a shot at goal in front of Dortmund's Emre Can during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Barcelona's Pau Cubarsi, left, Barcelona's Fermin Lopez, center, and Barcelona's Jules Kounde celebrate after their teammate Raphinha, left, scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Barcelona's Raphinha, second right, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Barcelona's Raphinha scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

PSG's players celebrate winning the French League One championship title after the soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Angers at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (Franck Fife, Pool Photo via AP)

Barcelona's Raphinha, right, dribbles the ball past Betis' Marc Bertra during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

When NBC carried the Kentucky Derby for the first time in 2001, the broadcast lasted only 90 minutes.

On Saturday, when it carries the Run for the Roses for the 25th time, 90 minutes wouldn’t be enough for all the feature stories that will run leading up to post time.

NBC Sports will present 12 1/2 hours of coverage across two days on NBC, USA Network and Peacock. There will be five hours for Friday’s Kentucky Oaks on USA Network and Peacock. Saturday’s coverage begins on USA Network at noon ET before moving to NBC at 2:30 p.m. while Peacock will stream all 7 1/2 hours.

“So much has changed since we first started in 2001. At that time, we thought 90 minutes to cover a two-minute race. How are we going to fill all this time? Now we are still trying to figure out how we’re going to get this story in and that story in because there are so many great stories to tell,” said Donna Brothers, the only member of the broadcast team involved with all 25 Derbys on NBC.

NBC has done five hours of coverage on the main network on Derby Day since 2018. Sam Flood, the executive producer and president of NBC Sports Production, said the true evolution behind adding more hours while making the coverage appeal to a cross-section of viewers began after he produced his first Derby in 2006.

“I remember getting done with the show, which I think was two hours. I kept thinking, we can do so much more,” Flood said. “There are so many assets here that should be showcased, and that’s when we started blowing it out, adding more hours and slowly shifting more and more hours on to NBC and off the cable platforms.”

The expansion has also included the Kentucky Oaks. It started airing on Bravo in 2009 before moving to the NBC Sports Network and then USA Network.

The Derby broadcast has evolved into one of the most diverse sports events that NBC does yearly and is on par with the Olympics, which it carries once every two years, and the Super Bowl, which it has once every four years.

It also might be the only place where a viewer can see fashion, recipes from one of the hosts of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” and race predictions from NBC News chief data analyst Steve Kornacki.

Mike Tirico, the host of NBC’s coverage since 2017, said doing the Derby served as good preparation for hosting the Olympics as well as a stint as a guest host on the “Today” show last week.

“My time doing the Derby helped me to do the ‘Today’ show last week, not vice versa,” he said. “This show is so cool. It goes from speed figures to fascinators. It goes from betting to bourbon. We cover it all in the five hours with a great team of people who dive in and take their space and own it. We all build towards the race. The audience does the same.”

Tirico succeeded Tom Hammond as host. Hammond, a University of Kentucky graduate, was a guiding force around NBC’s early coverage and introducing the sport’s most prominent personalities to viewers.

Lindsay Schanzer, the supervising producer of NBC’s coverage, said one of the advantages of having nearly 4 1/2 hours leading up to post time at 6:57 p.m. ET is the chance to focus on the stories of the 20 horses that will line up in the starting gate.

Among the stories planned are the return of trainer Bob Baffert — who served a three-year suspension after Medina Spirit failed a drug test — 89-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas and Michael McCarthy, the trainer of prerace favorite Journalism, whose family was displaced from home in Southern California due to the wildfires.

Because of the many different topics in the broadcast, Schanzer has an interesting approach in how she books the coverage with what she calls a colors document, where each element of coverage has its own color.

“I like to look at it from a broad perspective to make sure there’s not too much of one color in one area, and every color is kind of represented across the show so that if you’re watching it, you’re getting a little bit of a taste of everything,” she said. “One color could be a fashion element, one could be Kornacki’s insights, one could be an interview with a horseman. I try to look at it in a holistic way like that.”

The approach has certainly worked. Last year’s broadcast averaged 16.7 million viewers, the largest Derby audience since 1989. That included an average minute audience of 714,000 streaming on Peacock.

Overall, 11 of the past 15 Derbies held in May have averaged at least 15 million.

“We’ve had all kinds of things happen (since 2001), and that’s what’s so unique about the sport, but specifically about the Derby,” said Jon Miller, NBC Sports president of acquisitions and partnerships. “You have 20 horses that come into that gate and long shots that can pull off the upset. You have favorites, you have great ownership stories, and you have legendary trainers. Who knows who is going to surprise this year? But that’s what’s great about it.”

AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing and Derby coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/kentucky-derby

Horses workout at Churchill Downs Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)