Dortmund still have belief

Marc Bartra gave blood, other Borussia Dortmund players have nightmares about the bomb attack on their bus and now the German team may need the sweat of Marco Reus to pull off a fairy tale place in the Champions League last four.

The scars left by three bombs that scorched the side of the bus and fired metal shards inside before the quarterfinal against Monaco have gone much further than Bartra's fractured wrist.

The game was postponed but Dortmund were forced to play 24 hours later. The shock was apparent in the 3-2 defeat that has left the German side facing a stiff challenge in Wednesday's return leg.

Dortmund are getting help from psychologists. "We have very good counsellors we can ask for help," Dortmund's Swiss goalkeeper Roman Burki said.

And the team bounced back with a 3-1 Bundesliga win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. But getting over the attack will be a slow process.

The team gathered to hold up a Bartra jersey after Saturday's win. Many of them were in tears.

"Against Frankfurt we showed a lot of joy because we are happy to be here. We talk a lot about it to each other. I think it will weld us together as a team," captain Marcel Schmelzer said.

Coach Thomas Tuchel believes the first leg should not have gone ahead so soon. Some specialists say the players' shock should start to "stabilise" after three days, according to Tuchel.

"For the players, its easier when they play, than after the whistle when they feel they have to talk" about their ordeal.

The problem is "how to focus" on the Monaco game, said the German coach. But Saturday's display indicated Dortmund could be in the mood for an upset in Monaco.

"We believe in ourselves," said defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos. The Greece international scored from a screaming 23 metre shot that he labelled "the most beautiful goal of my career" and dedicated it to Bartra.

And then there was Reus, who scored just 122 seconds into his comeback from six weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. The 27-year-old forward has the experience, the playmaking skills and above all, he was not on the ill-fated team bus last Tuesday -- and that could make all the difference.