Ilkay Gundogan’s wife has come to the player’s defense after he appeared to call out his Barcelona teammates during an interview.
The Germany international was part of the Barcelona team that was beaten by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday thanks to a 6-4 aggregate scoreline.
Holding a 3-2 lead from the first leg, Raphinha put Barcelona in control early in the second leg before Ronald Araujo was shown a straight red for a professional foul on Bradley Barcola.
What followed was a dominant display from PSG as they won 4-1 on the night to secure their place in the semi-final against Borussia Dortmund.
The elimination was a blow to the entire Barcelona team, none more so than Gundogan who helped Man City win the competition last season.
The experienced midfielder didn’t hold back after the match either, telling CBS: “If he [Araujo] made a mistake [Barcola], I guess it’s a red card. I haven’t seen the replay, I don’t know. You probably know this better than us.
“It’s hard to say. I think, you know, in these kinds of crucial moments you have to make sure you get the ball back.
“If you don’t [know whether you’re going to get the ball]and again I don’t know if he touched the ball or not, you have to stay away.
“I would rather concede a goal there or give the striker a one-on-one. However, the ball was played quite far, so I don’t even know if he would have reached the ball.
“But maybe let our goalkeeper save us or even concede a goal, because going down on a man so early in the game kills your game.”
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Besides Araujo, Gundogan appeared to take aim at Robert Lewandowski for failing to close down Vitinha for PSG’s second goal.
The Polish striker was closest to the PSG player and, although Gundogan did not mention him by name, he said: “Again, it’s another mistake. We have to go.
“We can’t let him shoot because he was so free.
“It was nothing we had ever coached before. The player closest to the ball has to come out. We were three with three and Vitinha was the fourth man.
“Someone has to come out. Nobody did it or they did it too late.
“It was a good shot and they scored their second goal. But it wasn’t necessary at all. It’s too late right now.”
Gundogan’s wife, Sara, came to his defense, writing on social media: “This man works hard and his football opinions are aimed at improving and he gives his all to this team.
“His mentality is a threefold mentality.”
Of course, Sara is referring to Man City’s treble success last season in which Gundogan captained the Man City team.
Meanwhile, when asked about Gundogan’s comments, Araujo said: “I prefer to keep to myself what I think about these comments. I have my own codes and values that I think should be respected.