Gundogan explained what he meant after Barcelona's defeat vs Real Madrid

Last Saturday Barcelona suffered a tough defeat against Real Madrid in Montjuic. There they were leading 1-0 from the first minutes thanks to Ilkay Gundogan's goal, but Jude Bellingham scored twice in the second half and gave Los Merengues the victory in the first 'Clasico' of the 2023/24 season.

After the match, Gundogan gave an interview in which he harshly criticized his teammates: "I have to be honest, not as much as I wish. Because I don't want to say something wrong to be honest, but I was in the dressing room and of course people are disappointed but especially after such a big game and such a result, I wish more frustration, more anger and more disappointment. This is a little bit the problem. I don't know, there has to be more emotion, especially when you lose and you know you can perform better and do better in certain situations and you just don't react and this just transfers to the pitch at the end of the day".

This surprised everyone, since it is not usual for a player to speak publicly about his own team in this way. That is why many wondered how he would be reunited with his teammates in training this week.

According to Cadena SER, Ilkay Gundogan spoke to the other Barcelona players to explain that his words were not aimed at anyone in particular, and that he simply said that because of the frustration he felt after losing the match. This was apparently well received by his teammates, who were also self-critical.

They need to recover

The season is very long and Barcelona know that they will have many opportunities to close the gap that Real Madrid have closed on them in the La Liga standings. Their first challenge will be this Saturday in San Sebastian against Real Sociedad. While next Tuesday they will travel to Hamburg to face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.