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An amazing 1st leg Barcelona victory over PSG, in Paris, theoretically meant that Barcelona had come a very long way in defeating the French giants, and advancing to the Champions League semi finals. And everything was going according to plan, until a dreadful Barcelona moment that “killed the game”, as Gundogan described it.
A Ronald Araujo red card in only the 29th minute, for a last-man challenge on Bradley Barcola, meant that Barcelona would play with 10 men for most of the match. Against a star studded PSG, Araujo had put his teammates in a bad situation. And eventually losing 4-1 at home and throwing away that 1st leg advantage, was a very disappointing exit from the Champions League quarter finals.
After the game, Gundogan gave a bombshell statement when he said that his teammate deserved the red card, that Araujo letting Barcola by would’ve given the goalkeeper the chance to make a save, and that even conceding a goal would have been better than a red card. These explosive statements caused a huge problem between both players, and it seems to have triggered the beginning of Gundogan’s end at Barcelona.
Now it’s ironic how Gundogan’s statements about the Araujo red card were what stood out from the thrilling PSG vs Barcelona battle. This game had 5 goals, naïve tactics from coach Xavi Hernandez to substitute Lamine Yamal, coach Luis Enrique destroying his former team, Xavi going crazy and once again, getting sent off, and an Ousmane Dembele smile at his former team, that just added insult to injury.
Gundogan’s position as a midfield player often helping with defense, didn’t stop him from doing really cool stuff in City’s attack. Not only was he giving lots of assists, but the awesome goals he scored, in all shapes and forms, and against any rival, showed the value of this player. For a midfielder, Gundogan single handedly gave City the 2023 FA Cup trophy, by not only scoring the quickest goal in FA Cup final history, within only 12 seconds of the game, but also scoring the 2nd goal in an amazing 2-1 victory over neighbors Man United.
So for a team that has had some of the best midfielders in history, Barcelona, a team struggling financially, getting a star like Gundogan for free, couldn’t have been a better deal. And even though he played the most minutes, and the most matches of any Barcelona player, the trophy-less season downplayed Gündoğan’s time at Barcelona. And the firing of coach Xavi, and appointing Gündoğan’s German counterpart Hansi Flick, still couldn’t have kept Gundogan in Spain.
So were Gündoğan’s interview statements against his teammates the REAL reason he shockingly left Barcelona, and made a surprise return to his former club.
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