Ilkay Gündogan has warned his Manchester City team-mates to keep their feet on the ground after the defeat of Barcelona and make sure the group stage is safely negotiated before looking too far ahead.
The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder, scorer of two goals in City’s 3-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, described the occasion as “a very special night” but one that was only part of a process. “It was quite an impressive win for us, but just a win,” Gündogan said.
“It’s three points, a very important three points, certainly, but not worth more than a win against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the next game. We have two more games to go and we must try and get through.”
City look favourites to do that now they have overcome their inferiority complex against Barcelona to move to seven points in Group C. A win in Germany later this month would take them into the knockout stage and they still have Celtic to come at home in their final match on 6 December.
Gündogan knows what it is like to make it to a Champions League final, as a former member of the Dortmund side who defeated Real Madrid to reach Wembley in 2013, but he firmly believes each challenge on the way must be taken in turn.
“In football everything is possible, but we are quite far away from the semi-finals at the moment,” he said. “We didn’t expect to go to the final with Dortmund, we were developing as a team as we went along. It is a process, and we have to see how it goes from now on at City, but of course beating a side of the quality of Barcelona can only give you confidence.
“It was definitely a big win for us, but what was really important was the way we played in the second half after coming back from a goal down. It was a great improvement from us, really impressive, and we got what we deserved. We controlled Barcelona and we even had a few more chances to score goals. If we had taken them we could have won 4-1 or 5-1.”
Pep Guardiola has been praised for his tactics, at least in England, where he is credited with getting his front players to work harder and press higher up the field. In Spain some surprise has been registered at the number of long balls City played, though as Guardiola admitted, his side are not the finished European article yet.
“We played long balls because we are not ready to keep the ball,” the manager said. “We are three or four months into playing in a different way and we still need time.”
Gündogan said it was simply a matter of switching to 4-4-2 early in the game, but thought City’s attitude and fighting spirit were more important. “I’m not sure the win was about tactics,” he said.
“I think it was more about our self-confidence, especially after the first goal. It was all about mentality and character. We are in a good way, but if we want to be in the last 16 we have to make sure we continue in the same manner in Germany.”
