Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic gave his disappointed players time to accept the defeat after their controversial last-16 exit to Chelsea on Tuesday.
“We’re not thinking about the season right now” Terzic told Amazon Prime on the sidelines of Stamford Bridge after the 2-0 defeat saw Dortmund eliminated 2-1 on aggregate.
“We’re simply disappointed.”
Borussia Dortmund were the most in-form side in Europe’s top 5 leagues before they came to Stamford Bridge.
They won 11 straight competitive matches prior to today.
Chelsea handed them their first loss of 2023 and held them scoreless for the first time in nearly 4 months. pic.twitter.com/msA9GSEqSC
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 7, 2023
Dortmund’s run of 10 wins from 10 starts in 2023 had come to an end in contentious circumstances.
With Chelsea up 1-0, the score tied at 1-1 on aggregate, a VAR intervention found a handball against winger Marius Wolf in the box.
While Chelsea’s Kai Havertz missed the spot kick, VAR again stepped in and told him to re-take it, as Dortmund players had entered the box too early.
Havertz converted the penalty at the second attempt and Chelsea held on for a 2-0 win.
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“The boys immediately wanted to look at the replay of the penalty, because they hadn’t seen it yet,” Terzic said of the incident, which took place just after half-time but dominated the post-match discussions.
After a stuttering end to 2022, Dortmund closed the nine-point gap on leaders Bayern Munich this year. They now sit just behind the perennial German champions on goal difference with 11 games remaining.
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