Ilkay Gundogan probably imagined life would be different at Barcelona when he joined them from Manchester City in the summer.
Instead, it seems it’s been one drama after another for the midfielder, who finds himself embroiled in another according to AS.
The newspaper covers the fallout from Barcelona’s exit at the hands of Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League this week, after the French side won 4-1 and 6-4 on aggregate.
It was a highly emotional evening that ultimately swung on Ronald Araujo’s red card in the 29th minute, which turned the game in the away side’s favour and saw them ultimately progressing comfortably.
The former Manchester City man was clear about that after the game, admitting in interviews after the game that they gave the game away and Araujo’s red card was the cause.
That’s gone down badly with the rest of the dressing room according to AS, who say she has disrespected ‘the code’ at the club. They even believed he was unfair to the Uruguayan defender given the incident that saw him sent off was a split-second one.
“It is a decision that is made in a second. Obviously, you’re wrong. It is a situation that the player made a mistake, normally he makes little mistakes, but it falls on him. Gundogan doesn’t care about the codes,” said Rosa Beatriz Sánchez.
For his part, Daniel Chapela added: “I do not believe that Araujo has committed irresponsibility, he probably thought it would come. When hot, it is very difficult for Araujo in the race to think that it is better for the team not to be left with one less.”
They believed that the statements from the Manchester City favourite ‘divided the locker room’, hence Araujo waiting to respond, which they praise him for.
“It seems to me that Araujo had more elegance than Gündogan himself. There are codes in a football team that must be respected and here it was obviously not like that,” concluded Jaime Gallardo.
All in all, then, a bit of a disaster for Gundogan, who appears to have swapped calm at the Etihad for chaos in Catalunya. The reaction to what were relatively mild comments has been absurd, and there seems to be an element of resenting the midfielder’s Manchester City success and subsequent experience.
