Ilkay Gundogan held nothing back as he gave a refreshingly honest post-match interview following Barcelona’s crushing Champions League elimination.
Barca crashed out of the Champions League following their 6-4 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
The La Liga giants led 3-2 heading into last night’s second leg clash and increased their advantage when Raphinha opened the scoring in the 12th minute.
But the game turned on its head when Ronald Araujo was dismissed for fouling Bradley Barcola after being adjudged to be the last man.
11 minutes after his sending off, Ousmane Dembele netted against his old side before the visitors scored three times in the second-half.
Vitinha struck from distance to level the tie on aggregate. Kylian Mbappe then put his side ahead after a moment of madness from Joao Cancelo, who committed a rash challenge inside the box. The Frenchman slotted home the subsequent penalty, before scoring his second goal of the game to make it 4-1 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate.
After the match, Gundogan, who played the full 90 minutes, pulled no punches on his teammates as he bemoaned Araujo and Cancelo’s decisions in the fixture.
“Everything was in our hands and we just gave it away.”
İlkay Gündoğan spoke with @GuillemBalague to discuss what went wrong for Barcelona 😔 pic.twitter.com/GIs5uoI1O1
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 16, 2024
“I didn’t see it, if he made a mistake he probably deserved to be sent off,” he told CBS Sports.
“In such crucial moments you have to be sure if you have a chance to get the ball. If you don’t have a chance, you have to move away. I don’t know if he got to the ball.
“It is better to give the striker a chance to confront the goalkeeper. He may miss it, or the goalkeeper may save us, or even concede a goal, because getting a red card at the beginning of the match will finish off your team and finish you off.”
The German also felt he deserved a penalty. He added: “I think I deserved a penalty. I was running and he clearly blocked me. I told the referee that it was a penalty, and I got a yellow card instead.”
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