Ilkay Gundogan's wife Sara Arfaoui

Ilkay Gundogan’s wife defends his comments following Barcelona’s UCL exit against PSG

Aditya Singh

Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan’s wife has come out to defend her husband after his comments following the Blaugrana’s defeat against PSG. The Blaugrana lost 4-1 in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie at home on Tuesday, April 16.

Barcelona had won the first leg 3-2 at the Parc des Princes and took an early lead in the second leg through Raphinha. However, Ronald Araujo was then sent off for a last-man tackle, which allowed PSG to get into the game. Ousmane Dember (40’) and Vitinha (54’) made the score level on aggregate.

Joao Cancelo then made a late challenge on Dembele in the box and Kylian Mbappe converted the resulting penalty. The Frenchman scored another goal in the 89th minute to seal the win for PSG.

After the game, Gundogan was visibly displeased with his side’s performance. In an interview with CBS Sports, he hit out at his teammates’ mistakes without mentioning their names. This has drawn varied reactions from the footballing world.

Ilkay Gundogan’s wife Sara Arfaoui has come out in defense of her husband, writing on social media:

“This man is a working hard guy and his football opinions are about improving and he is giving everything to this team. His mentality is a treble mentality.”

Also Read: Lamine Yamal breaks record of being the youngest-ever player to provide an assist in the UCL knockout stages

What did Ilkay Gundogan say after Barcelona’s defeat to PSG?

While he didn’t take any names, Ilkay Gundogan hit out at the mistakes of Barcelona players during their second-leg tie against PSG. He said in an interview on CBS Sports:

“If he [Araujo] fouled him [Barcola], I guess it’s a red card. I haven’t seen the replay, I don’t know. You guys probably know better than us. It’s difficult to say. I think, you know, in these kind of crucial moments you need to be sure to get the ball.

He added:

“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 prefer to concede a goal there or give the striker one-versus-one. Although, the ball was played quite far ahead 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 to go down one man so early in the game kills your game.”

Ilkay Gundogan also spoke about Vitinha’s goal as the PSG midfielder was allowed to shoot from outside the box without being closed down. The German said:

“Again, it’s another mistake. We have to step out there. We can’t let him shoot because he was so free.

“It wasn’t anything we haven’t trained before. The closest player to the ball has to step out. We were three with three and Vitinha was the fourth man. Someone has to step out. No one did or they did it too late. It was a good shot and they got their second goal. But, it wasn’t necessary at all. It’s too late right now.”

Barcelona are now close to finishing the season without any trophy. They are eight points behind Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table with just seven games to go.