‘Always tricky’ – Barcelona ‘MVP’ of the season picks his UCL final matchup
After falling short two seasons in a row in the Champions League and falling to the Europa League, Barcelona have made it to the last eight of this season’s tournament, pitched against none other than Luis Enrique’s PSG.
The Catalans have managed to avoid all the big guns so far this season, a list that would ideally include Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and of course, last season’s winners Manchester City.
All three of those sides, and Arsenal, are on the other side of the bracket, while Barcelona will face one of Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund should they be able to reach the semi-finals.
Gundogan hoping for City-Barça matchup
Ahead of the quarter-finals clash, Ilkay Gundogan spoke to SPORT as part of an interview, where he was asked whether he would like to face his former club Manchester City in the finals if it came to it.
“Would I like to face Man City in the Champions League final? Yes, of course. I would like to play the final with Barcelona. It would be great, then the opponent does not matter,” he said.
“City have a fantastic team, of course. But in the Champions League, it is always tricky.”
Focus on PSG game
Gundogan, while dreaming of the Champions League final, is focused on the game at hand vs PSG in the quarter-finals. Speaking about it, he said:
“If we can play like we did, for example, against Napoli, we will have a chance in the Champions League. I think so, yes, but of course, PSG have a great team and great players.”
He added, “Against PSG, we will have to focus on controlling the wingers and defending very well. But we will have to do it as a team. If we can do that, we will have a chance.”
As far as the Champions League dream is concerned, it came about quite suddenly for Barcelona after the underwhelming season they had been having up until January.
“Well, we will still have to keep out feet on the ground. I like that there is euphoria and optmisim around the club, with the fans, but we have to keep working hard. In a short time, you can go from being the favourite to out of the competition,” Gundogan said about it.
