The Germany midfielder was a driving force behind Barca's win against Atletico Madrid, while Pep Guardiola's side aren't the same without him
You could highlight several key players in Barcelona's 1-0 triumph over Atletico Madrid. Most will point to the virtuosic efforts of Joao Felix, who netted the winner and turned in his best performance in Catalan colours against his parent club. Others might highlight Ronald Araujo, who handled the in-form Alvaro Morata, and won all six of his aerial duels. There is also a case to be made for the floaty Frenkie de Jong, dynamic Raphinha, or clutch Inaki Pena.
But perhaps the most impactful individual over the course of 90-plus minutes was the one who always seems to show up in big games. Indeed, that Ilkay Gundogan embraced the spotlight once again is of little surprise.
Gundogan was magnificent on Sunday. He amassed the most touches on the pitch, completed 89 percent of his passes, and played more key passes than anyone else. And, more broadly, he served as the driving force of a Barca midfield unit that was neither fazed nor out-muscled by a physical Atleti bunch.
Four hours earlier, and nearly 900 miles away, his former team had toiled without him. Manchester City will perhaps feel that they should have won against Tottenham, and that a 3-3 draw wasn't indicative of the chances they created, passages of play they pieced together, or defensive efforts. Those arguments certainly have some weight, but they also undoubtedly missed their former captain, as they lacked that bit of composure in central areas that has proved so valuable to them in recent years.
Here was a tale of two teams, both facing games of similar magnitude. One flourished thanks to a graceful midfield presence, while another is still adjusting to life without that same player. The contrasting results, then, should be of little surprise.
Barcelona are so much better with Gundogan, and City — especially on days like Sunday — are so much worse without him.
GettyLeaving a massive hole
Last season, Erling Haaland broke pretty much every single-season goalscoring record in the Premier League. His banged in 36 league goals, bettering Mo Salah's 32 from five years ago. He netted 52 in all competitions, eclipsing the 44 that Ruud van Nistelrooy and Salah both bagged. He scored more goals than Everton and Wolves, while equalling Southampton's total. He also became the first player in Premier League history to score hat-tricks in three straight home games.
Put simply, Haaland was the single player that took Man City from perennial Premier League champions to history-making treble winners.
But in April, the goals dried up. Haaland missed an occasional chance, and had the pure audacity to go four games without scoring. In his slump, Gundogan stepped up. He wasn't a formidable attacking force of Haaland's mould, but instead popped up in the spaces that the Norwegian striker left open.
When opponents doubled-up on marking Haaland, Gundogan arrived in the areas where the defenders weren't. He timed his runs, ghosted into pockets, and, perhaps most importantly, finished his chances. He ended the season with 11 goals in all competitions – a decent return, but it was the importance of his strikes that really separates Gundogan.
He netted back-to-back braces against Leeds United and Everton in the run-in as City surged past Arsenal to win their third successive league title, and Gundogan backed that up with another double in the FA Cup final win over Manchester United.
This is not a new trend, either, as Gundogan has developed a habit of scoring important goals. It was his brace against Aston Villa on the final day of the 2021-22 season that turned the game on its head and secured an epic come-from-behind win. When everyone else goes missing, Gundogan always seems to appear.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesCity struggling to fill the void
Gundogan's knack for grabbing a goal would have been timely for City on Sunday. Although Pep Guardiola's bagged three, they undoubtedly missed Gundogan's clinical presence in the middle.
Perhaps more broadly, though, there wasn't a sense of ultimate control in central areas that has defined City's play in recent years. Spurs looked comfortable on the ball at times, simply playing through Guardiola's side. That crushing press and ensuing calm — a difficult balance to attain — has disappeared in recent weeks.
The result has been three consecutive league draws in some of their highest-profile games of the season, with City's defence showing a vulnerability like never before. They have shipped 10 goals in their last four games in all competitions, and not having Gundogan there to bring some balance to midfield in front of the backline has definitely played a part.
And so while Gundogan would not have necessarily scored the winning goal in those games, he would have certainly added that aura and composure to guide City through the contest. Without him, they lack their usual dominance.
GettyMaking a difference
The Barcelona version of Gundogan is different. This is a player not reinvented as much as remodelled, tailored for various roles within the same system.
At the age of 33, Gundogan has little development to do as a footballer. He is a versatile presence who can fill in wherever needed. At times, when Pedri was out injured, Gundogan became the Blaugrana's most advanced midfielder. At others, when De Jong was sidelined, he operated in a box-to-box role. Against Atletico, he was a de-facto No.6, with Oriol Romeu deemed too immobile for the role while Gavi is out for the season with a knee injury.
Gundogan has still shown his attacking instincts, though, tallying six goal contributions in all competitions, mostly in a facilitatory role for a team that doesn't score as much as it should.
In Xavi's team, though, it's Gundogan's presence that really stands out. This is, after all, one of the most successful footballers on the planet who has won the Premier League five times, Champions League once, and domestic cups eight times. That he has demanded lofty standards from his side is of no surprise.
In late October, he made headlines for criticising his team-mates' reaction to a Clasico loss — a game in which he unsurprisingly scored the opening goal given his love of these big games. "I would like to see more anger, more disappointment," he said. "This is part of the problem, they have to express more emotions when you lose, and when you know you can play better, you have to do better in certain situations and we don't react."
But, perhaps more importantly, he was willing to be critical of his own performance: "I also have a responsibility as a senior player not to allow these things to happen to the team, we need to hang in there more."
It's that blend of accountability and leadership that has been vital for Xavi's side. This is still a mostly young team struggling with their own faults amid the undeniable pressures of being Barcelona. Gundogan has ensured that they have just about dealt with that.
GettyDominating Atletico
Although El Clasico was perhaps the biggest game of the season to date, Atleti might have presented more of a challenge for Gundogan himself — especially given the significance of the contest in Barca's campaign. The Blaugrana went into the game seven points off the top of La Liga. A loss would have seen them drift into fourth, closer to seventh-placed Real Betis than league-leading Real Madrid.
Add that to the fact that Atletico would deploy a scrappy midfield against a Barca team without middle-third nuisance Gavi, and the stage seemed set for the kind of demoralising, ugly defeat that would see Xavi's side all-but crash out of the title race.
And while the game was indeed only settled by a single goal, that sole strike went in Barca's favour. Meanwhile, that midfield area of concern proved to be a minimal problem for the Blaugrana, and Gundogan was the reason why. Deployed as a No.6 and physically overmatched, he delivered the kind of composed midfield performance that Barca have been missing for years.
Rather than getting bogged down in hard tackles and yellow cards, Gundogan moved deftly from space to space, avoiding pressure and making sure that Barca always played forward. As well as topping the game's statistics with the ball, he led the game in recoveries, and effectively cruised through 90 minutes, laying the platform for a Barca win.
A look at his heatmap will show a player who rarely ventured towards the opposition's box, and in fact, Gundogan didn't shoot at all. This was an intentionally disciplined performance, and Atletico Madrid couldn't get near him.