Goals from Joaquin and Eliseu were not enough for Malaga as they went down to two stoppage time goals, losing 3-2 at Borussia Dortmund.
Manuel Pellegrini had a full complement of players to choose from for this second leg clash, after resting a number of his key men at the weekend. Willy Caballero took his place in goal, whilst at the other end of the pitch Julio Baptista lead the line. For the Bundesliga side, they had an enviable attacking triumvirate of Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gotze and Marco Reus to call upon.
And it was the home team who got off to the brightest start. Sven Bender and Ilkay Gundogan were spraying the ball around the middle of the park, but the Andalusian side held strong at the back and limited the Germans to very little in the way of opportunities.
When they did find an opening though, it very nearly resulted in a goal. Lewandowski raced on to a through ball, but his deft chip from the edge of the area could only hit the top of the net – not the back of it.
All that possession however, counted for nothing on 25 minutes, as the Andalusian side took an unexpected lead. Joaquin picked the ball up 25 yards from goal, before firing a sweet left-footed drive into the bottom right-hand corner.
Jurgen Klopp’s men tried to hit back with Gotze and Neven Subotic having attempts at goal, but it was that man Lewandowski who eventually succeeded with five minutes of the half remaining. The Poland international finished off a brilliant team move by dribbling past Caballero and tapping into an empty net.
After the break, and almost immediately Malaga had a chance to get a second away goal – unfortunately for them though, Roman Weidenfeller was in top form, and saved a Joaquin header from point-blank range.
The Bundesliga giants were still plugging away however. Gotze and Reus were causing trouble with their pace and movement, but the backline of Martin Demichelis and Sergio Sanchez were just about holding strong.
It was Caballero though who was keeping Pellegrini’s men in the tie. The keeper made a number of fantastic saves, first from Reus’ close-range effort, then Gotze’s fierce drive.
And quite incredibly, the club from the south of Spain got themselves a second with just nine minutes remaining. Eliseu came off the bench and tapped in Julio Baptista’s cross/shot for a 2-1 lead.
History wasn’t to be made though. First Reus bagged an equaliser in the very last minute with a cool finish from inside the area, and then Felipe Santana poked in from close-range to make it 3-2 in stoppage time.
Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Malaga
Scorers: Lewandowski 40 (BD) Reus 90 (BD), Santana 90+2 (BD); Joaquin 25 (M), Eliseu 81 (M)
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller; Piszczek, Subotic, F.Santana, Schmelzer; Bender (Sahin 74), Gündogan (Hummels 86); Kuba (Schieber 72), Götze, Reus, Lewandowski
Malaga: Caballero; Jesús Gámez, S. Sánchez, Demichelis, Antunes; Joaquín (Portillo), Toulalan, Camacho, Duda (Eliseu 76); Isco; Baptista (Santa Cruz 83)
