Barcelona star Ilkay Gundogan has said that his adaptation to life at the club has not been too difficult, while also pointing out that there are similarities between the style of football there and that which he was used to at Manchester City.
Guardiola clearly devised his early schemes at Barcelona, while Xavi Hernandez, having played with Guardiola and then been managed by him for four seasons, is clearly influenced by him too. Gundogan told MD that it was evident.
“You can see that it is the same school, that Pep had an influence on Xavi and his game. Of course, also the Barca school: possession, not losing the ball, trying to create, playing intelligently, finding space… many of the things we do here are similar to what we did at City with Pep and that also gives me an advantage, it’s easier to adapt.”
Meanwhile he explained to Sport that he was hoping to win it all with Barcelona. Similarly, he has revealed that he joined Barcelona because of their prestige and the place they had won in his heart over the years.
“I remember a moment that I will never forget, which is Ronaldinho’s performance at the Bernabeu, where even the Real Madrid fans applauded him. I really enjoyed watching that. Not just Ronaldinho. All of Barca as a team playing that day. That is perhaps the most important moment I remember. But I have seen many games in the League or in the Champions League where the midfield of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, who for me was the best in the world, played in an incredible way and I grew up learning from them.”
Gundogan was also asked to define some of his coaches in a single word. His former Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp was described as ‘intensity’. Klopp’s successor Thomas Tuchel was given the word ‘intelligent’, while Guardiola perhaps came out best of all with ‘genius’.
The 32-year-old will face one of his former coaches in Mikel Arteta this week, as Barcelona take on Arsenal on Wednesday night in what will be their first preseason friendly. A virus caused their first fixture with Juventus to be cancelled.
