Ilkay Gundogan admits Manchester City have accepted harsh reality in Champions League qualification race | OneFootball

Ilkay Gundogan has dissected Manchester City’s struggles over the course of this season in a new interview with Sport Germany this week.

The 34-year-old made a sensational, last-minute return to the Etihad Stadium in the summer – around 12 months on from joining Barcelona after captaining City to a historic treble that saw him lift the club’s first Champions League title in Istanbul.

Ilkay Gundogan was Pep Guardiola’s first signing as Manchester City manager in 2016 and has proved his worth to the four-in-a-row Premier League champions time and time again over the years.

However, Gundogan has faced his own struggles for form and consistency this season – having failed to replicate the version of himself that made him so integral to Guardiola and City before he joined Barcelona on a free transfer in 2023.

The former Borussia Dortmund man has been in and out of the starting XI this season and has often had to fill the void left in central midfield by the absent Rodri, who sustained a season-ending ACL injury in September.

“I don’t think we’re too tired. I don’t think we’re too old,” Ilkay Gundogan said in a new interview with Sport Germany this week, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness.

“I just think that what this club (Manchester City) has achieved in the last seven years is not normal. If you look at the last seven years: six Premier League titles, winning the Champions League, countless trophies with the League Cup and the FA Cup, (UEFA) Super Cups, (FIFA) Club World Cup.”

Manchester City are expected to shuffle their ranks in the summer but Ilkay Gundogan believes a slump after years of unparalleled consistency and success across various competitions is only normal.

“What the club has achieved in the last seven years is now considered normal,” the midfielder added. “We discuss that ourselves. Sometimes you can’t do anything other than accept that.

“That’s what we do, knowing that we can do better because we’ve made enough mistakes ourselves. We can assess them well. Accordingly, the minimum goal now is to qualify for the (UEFA) Champions League.”