“There is no better football I can remember being played by anyone”, says Gundogan about treble-winning side
Ilkay Gundogan has praised Pep Guardiola as the manager whose footballing philosophy he identifies with the most, despite his deeply personal relationship with Jurgen Klopp.
The Galatasaray midfielder, who played and won league titles under both coaches, said his years under Guardiola at Manchester City has shaped his own understanding of the game.
“We had enormous success at Dortmund and I loved the type of football,” said Gundogan.
“I appreciate Jurgen so much as a manager and human being. Every time we saw each other, even with Liverpool, we hugged strongly like a father and son.
“Both managers had a big influence on the way I turned out, but with Pep I feel the tactical point of view, the possession game, is a bit clearer to me than transitional football.”
Few players are as well-placed to compare the two managers. Gundogan played 117 matches for Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund, winning the Bundesliga and reaching a Champions League final, before featuring in 358 games for Guardiola at Manchester City, where he became captain and led the club to a historic treble in 2023.
Reflecting on his Dortmund days, Gundogan said that Klopp hammered an identity of pressing into his squad such that they had an almost instinctive response to losing possession.
“It felt almost like we hit that button as soon as we lost the ball,” said Gundogan. “We just sprinted in such an aggressive way that we overwhelmed them.
“At one point, we were just waiting to lose the ball, waiting to react. It was almost like ‘Come on, someone lose the ball, lose the ball’.
“The football was different. It was young, athletic, transitional and high-intensity. A little bit like Klopp’s Liverpool everyone knows. It took time to adapt myself coming from a small club in Nurnberg, but once I got it, I got it.”
At City, however, Gundogan fell in love with the idea of slow and structured build-up play. He said the system was about perfecting the simple things.
“I describe myself as a simple player because that is how I like to keep the game,” said Gundogan. “I feel like it’s enough to make the simple things as perfect as possible.
“Watch us in the treble-winning season. The build-up and everything looks so easy, but it was simple things executed perfectly.
“There is no better football I can remember being played by anyone, maybe apart from the Barcelona team with [Sergio] Busquets, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta and [Lionel] Messi, than we played that year.”
