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Pep Guardiola took a deep breath.
"So yes, I'm relieved," he said at the midnight hour at the press conference in the "Emirates" when he was asked to classify the game and the late happy ending for his team.
It had gone well again for the Citizen, currently the supposedly best club team in the world.
She had to suffer, but in the end she still won 2-1 (1-0) - thanks to a goal from Phil Foden in the 90th minute.
Guardiola had previously looked into the abyss.
Because as difficult as on Tuesday evening in this quarter-final first leg of the Champions League, the designated English champions have not done for a long time.
"We felt the pressure," admitted the Catalan.
But he wasn't surprised about it.
This is how it can be when you play against a team where you “can't find a single player without quality,” says Guardiola: “Dortmund is a typical Champions League team.”
Lost your mind?
If he had said this before the game - at least in Germany, speculation would have been made as to whether one of the most renowned coaches in European football has lost his mind: of all things, BVB, which has recently been almost synonymous with flawedness, problematic attitudes and failure at crucial moments had been a Champions League team?
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Probably not, especially since Edin Terzic's team almost gambled away their participation in the premier class in the coming season last week.
Dortmund was torn apart by the criticism.
Coach in the duel: Pep Guardiola (r.) And Edin Terzic
Source: AP
All the greater was the surprise at what the team delivered on Tuesday evening.
When she fought and played, she had a completely different charisma and body language.
“We did a lot of things really well and did a great job.
We played exactly as you would expect from Borussia Dortmund - with a lot of passion and a lot of commitment, ”said Mats Hummels - who discussed all this with his colleagues on Saturday after the 2-1 defeat against Frankfurt.
Suddenly, however, it happened: The rooms were closed with great effort, the duels were searched for and fought with determination - and most of them were won.
"If we play off our situations a little better on the offensive, we could go out here with more goals," said Hummels.
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Even so, it could have been enough - if not at all.
The Dortmund team had chosen the most tactically brave approach: In an offensively oriented 4-3-3 system, they kept the gaps between the team parts small.
The hosts quickly realized that Tiki-Taka could not be a suitable means against this opponent.
Even after a serious setback such as the 0: 1 (19th minute) by Kevin De Bruyne, when Emre Can played a too risky pass in the opening and the Dortmund defense had advanced too far, BVB remained courageous.
In the 33rd minute, Jude Bellingham, the best Borussia player, scored to equalize, referee Ovidiu Hategan mistakenly whistled back the goal.
But that evening there was no psychological breaking point either.
The mentality held up - the 1: 1 by Marco Reus, who was recently much - and rightly - criticized, was logical (84th).
It is tragic that BVB then paid one last inattention: Thomas Meunier underestimated a cross from De Bruyne, Ilkay Gündogan dropped for Foden.
This was the moment when the pressure on Guardiola dropped.
"If we go home 1-1, everyone is happy," said Hummels: "But now the feeling is not good because we did a lot right."
Marco Reus (r.) Scores 1: 1
Source: AP
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In fact, the feelings with which BVB started the journey home are ambivalent.
On the one hand, it is good to have shown a reaction after the criticism of the past few days, to have a different face.
For Hans-Joachim Watzke, the club boss, who had openly admitted before the game that he had doubts about the team, it is a bit comforting that the business model of relying on young, but still partially unfinished top talent, despite everything Can't be so wrong
Only a few German teams are capable of such a performance at this level.
But questions arise: How is this unexpected performance explosion to be explained?
Why did it work all of a sudden?
A lack of maturity
The answer lies in what Guardiola said: BVB is actually a Champions League team.
That sounds great, it is too.
But be careful: this praise is poisoned.
It also implies that Dortmund's collection of highly gifted people on the big stage works, but far too often not in gray everyday life.
That in turn has something to do with professionalism.
It grows out of maturity.
And that's exactly what is missing.
Even the strong appearance in Manchester doesn't change anything.
Reus and Hummels thought exactly in this direction and therefore contradicted that it can now be assumed that Tuesday's game could be a blueprint for the games of the coming weeks.
It is still not the case that BVB will now come to the performance limit more often in the championship.
Unfortunately, this automatism does not exist.
"Of course that's a step forward, but the issue for us is not to take steps forward, but to stay ahead - in terms of commitment, in terms of seriousness," said the defense chief: "We have to show that this is not just on the big stage is possible, but also on Saturdays against Frankfurt and in Stuttgart. "
The Dortmunders have to compete there on the weekend.
In order to cope with such rather ungrateful tasks, however, a much higher level of self-motivation is required than that which was necessary in Manchester.
Playing in Stuttgart is not the ultimate kick.
Here lies the problem, because a top team delivers not only when they know that they will be celebrated for it, but also because they have to.
"We have not only been talking for a year that we have to get continuity in our game," explained Reus: "We have too few games like this where we show our level."
To make this clear, Watzke stepped in front of the team on Easter Sunday.
He had found clear words that gripped the players with the honor.
The basics for professional footballers prayed down.
"He has clearly got rid of the criticism," said licensed player manager Sebastian Kehl - in the hope that it will finally bear fruit.
Even if he - just like Watzke - knows very well that it will be more of a process: players like Bellingham, 17, Gio Reyna, 18, the Champions League debutant Ansgar Knauff, 19, the currently injured Jadon Sancho, 21, and even Erling Haaland, 20, are still developing.
The likelihood that they will be more stable in a year or two is high.
However, it is questionable whether they will all still play in Dortmund.
This uncertainty is the problem behind the current problem.