Gundogan’s words, not deeds are causing stir at Nou Camp

From the moment he came to Barcelona, Ilkay Gundogan came into the first 11 and stayed there. The Germany international brought in his stability and maturity to the young Barca team and even scored the goal in a derby match with Real, which the Catalans eventually lost 2-1 due to a fantastic Jude Bellingham’s display and a brace. But it has been his words, rather than deeds, that have been interesting to Spanish media, who are keeping the former Manchester City midfielder on their pages for days.

Gundogan is angry because his teammates aren't!

The first one was his words just after El Clasico when he claimed he wanted to see more anger from the Blaugrana squad in the aftermath of their loss to Real Madrid. Days after the statement, Gundogan apparently ‘cleared the air’ with the squad, but the press wanted to hear coach Xavi’s opinion.

“The word conformity is not part of Barça’s DNA. We are for excellence. We have not seen Gundo’s words as controversial, we agree with what he said. We lost the Clasico due to our mistakes. There has been no controversy in the dressing room. He expressed the anger that we all had inside, nothing else. We were all angry. It comes down to culture. Any one of us could have said it, this is cultural. He comes from a different culture compared to ours. If you see Bayern’s defeat the other day, Muller came out and criticised. In the dressing room, there has been no controversy. We have a very healthy and very kind dressing room. The team is hungry” explained Xavi ahead of the touch matchup against Real Sociedad.

But that was not all that Gundogan said. Unlike the Real statement, which he gave directly to cameras, the German complained to the club in private that he and his wife Sara Arfaoui felt ‘abandoned’ upon their arrival to the Catalonian capital. He expected to receive more help with things such as housing, transport, and care for his family and complained as a result, as per ‘Sport’, for which the club apologized. Arfaoui has a history (already) of having trouble settling in, as she also complained about Manchester and said (when asked) that she cannot find a good restaurant in town.

“Sorry I'm sad to be honest but nothing. I tried so bad to find a good restaurant but... horrible food everywhere. Can't find a real Italian or good sushi or just fresh food .. everything frozen. Restaurants here are just focused on making money with drinks and shot like night clubs not quality food” she said. Barcelona restaurants are probably trembling now, waiting for Arfaoui’s approval.

LA LIGA - MATCHDAY 12

Friday

23:00: (5.70) Las Palmas (3.80) Atl.Madrid (1.63)

Saturday

16:00: (2.85) Osasuna (3.30) Girona (2.50)

18:15: (1.90) Betis (3.40) Mallorca (4.30)

20:30: (2.65) Celta (3.35) Sevilla (2.85)

23:00: (3.20) Sociedad (3.40) Barcelona (2.25)

Sunday

16:00: (1.80) Alaves (3.70) Almeria (5.00)

18:15: (1.62) Valencia (3.80) Granada (5.80)

20:30: (3.10) Villareal (3.50) Ath.Bilbao (2.40)

23:00: (1.30) Real Madrid (5.80) Rayo Vallecano (9.00)

Monday

23:00: (1.95) Getafe (3.30) Cadiz (4.20)

***odds are subject to change***