BORUSSIA DORTMUND COACH Thomas Tuchel complained that the team’s delayed arrival at the ground for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final clash with Monaco seriously dented their chances of turning the tie around.
A week after a bomb attack on their bus en route to the first leg in Germany left defender Marc Bartra with a broken wrist and forced the match to be postponed 24 hours, Dortmund were held up by police in Monaco.
That forced the match at the Stade Louis II to kick off five minutes later than planned.
The bus was supposed to depart at 7:15pm. Everyone was on the bus and the police were ready to accompany us, but then we were told we had to wait,” Tuchel said after the 3-1 defeat in the Mediterranean principality which saw them go out 6-3 on aggregate.
“We stayed there for 16 or 17 minutes and when we tried to find out why they just said it was for security reasons.
“It was the worst thing that could happen a week after the attack — everyone was on the bus ready to go but we were not allowed to.
You come into such a game trying to have a clear mind to go out and turn the tie around, but with just an hour and a quarter to go before the match we were not able to think about football at all and it wasn’t ideal.”
Dortmund, runners-up in 2013, were ultimately outclassed by a brilliant young Monaco side but Tuchel is convinced things would have been different without the tragic effects of last week.
When asked what his side — who sit fourth in the Bundesliga with five games remaining — lacked to go the extra step in Europe, Tuchel said: “Eight days after the attack it is very difficult to answer that question.
In the first leg it was impossible for us to play the game and take it seriously in the way we needed to do.
“We played well in the second half in Dortmund, despite the circumstances, and today we got back to 2-1 and with a bit more luck we could have equalised and maybe forced extra time.
“But it’s only eight days after the terrible attack so we shouldn’t lend too much significance to the team’s performance.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
