Gündoğan: “We have to finish the opponent, otherwise they will finish us”

Amazing motivation and cohesion. Both on and off the field.

“I look for the eyes on the pitch and I see in them that they are getting more confident and want the ball,” Gündoğan said. “Things are going more and more smoothly, everything is clicking better and better. The more we play together, the more comfortable we feel on the pitch.”

“At one point, you can even feel that you could play blind. Wherever we pass the ball, there is sure to be a teammate who knows exactly what to do with it. This quality can be our advantage at this Euro.”

He says the situation is very different than it was in November. Since then, the results have come one after the other, in March they also managed to beat two quality opponents.

“Everything went perfectly. I feel a lot of confidence in the coaching staff, they give me a certain degree of freedom and everyone is on board with all their efforts. We are on the field as one person and we push each other. The atmosphere in the team is fantastic, which can be decisive. That’s one of the reasons we can go far.”

“This is a significant difference compared to previous world competitions, as is the way we can handle difficult situations. That way we can be dangerous for every team.”

According to Gündoğan, it is of course also important to talk about tactics, but the point is much more about the attitude with which they enter the field.

Warns and hopes: Ilkay Gündogan

Photo: SID

“We have to start every game knowing that it could be our last 90 minutes. This means a lot of pressure, so our mentality will matter a lot here. You can watch Real Madrid, the most successful team of the last decade and of all time: they never panic, they always manage to stay calm.”

You have to recognize the moment when you can kill your opponent, or they will kill you.

He gave an example that it is not always easy, as he also experienced at his former club, Manchester City.

“I’ve played a lot of straight knockout games where we were the favorites. And then we were eliminated because we made a mistake.”

As a captain, he considers it one of his most important tasks to ensure that the team never panics.

“There can be periods in a match when we are not in the upper hand. This may seem like a negative thing from the outside, but it is normal. We are a team that likes to have the ball, but it can happen that the opponent keeps it for 15-20 passes. The point is that we shouldn’t be nervous at this time either.”

“If we lose our temper, we don’t recognize the moment when we could take the initiative and pressure the opponent. We have to stay calm, which is an important step mentally. At City, this process took a year or two.”

Gündoğan believes that Toni Kroos is his main support in developing mental stability.

“Our experience can be decisive. Things can depend on small things, and losing your head can be fatal. This is often more important than what happens on the pitch in terms of football.”

Ilkay Gündögan and Toni Kroos are also playing very well at the European Championship

Photo: AFP

“With Toni, it’s enough to look at each other for a fraction of a second, and we already know what the other is thinking or planning. The better you know the character and qualities of a teammate, the better you know what’s going on in his mind. Since we both have a lot of experience in a wide variety of games, we don’t really need to talk much.”

The team captain also told what happens when the opponent can take Kroos out of the game.

“My role does not change, I still try to own the area in the midfield and try to win more space for myself and my teammates. Otherwise, everyone has to take a little more responsibility at this time.”

“Toni has the ability to get out of a tight grip, if only for a second or two. And he does something about these situations. Of course, he doesn’t know this for 90 minutes, in which case the rest of us have to help him.”

He sees the assessment and proper management of risks as an important task for the team.

The most important thing is to know when to take risks. You have to be able to assess this in a fraction of a moment, a lot can depend on it.

“However, I also have to pay attention to what happens if things don’t go well. If we lose the ball, we have to work extremely coordinated to get it back as soon as possible. Otherwise, the counter will come, as it did against Hungary once or twice in the first half. In this case, you have to sprint back 50-60 meters, which is a valuable loss of energy. It is good to avoid such things – this is also part of risk management.”

Otherwise, we can even say that Gündoğan risks less so that others can know more, for example Jamal Musiala or Florian Wirtz.

Florian Wirtz and Ilkay Gundogan

“If I notice that we had three or four risky passes that weren’t necessarily our best, then I’m the one who tries to balance things out.”

“With Jamal and Florian, I need more than a split second to know what will happen next. Primarily because they are artists, wizards who do a lot of unexpected things. Those that surprise not only the opponent, but often us as well.”

Jamalt is particularly close to Gündoğan, recently saying that he considers him almost his adopted son.

“We get along very well, we spend a lot of time together, we laugh a lot. But Leroy Sané and I are also very close, and they are both very good, aren’t they. That’s important, it’s also important on the pitch.”

Jamal is a very good football player, he is our best player. And perhaps the most important.

The team captain feels extremely happy and lucky that the team was assembled so well just for the European Championship in Germany.

“That was the goal, and it’s a great pleasure that it turned out this way. The tournament is just beginning for us. We want to be successful, we want to make people happy, but most of all we want to meet our own expectations.”

The FAZ employee said that the Germans finally understood how İlkay Gündoğan plays football.

“I’m glad if that’s the case, but I’m not the only one responsible for the successes, just as I wasn’t the only one responsible for the failures before. I am an important part of the team, but I am not a Messi who can carry the entire national team on his back. And since none of us is Messi, we think as a team. And this team is better now than at any time in many years.”

Gündoğan was also asked about his possible social involvement. He says he doesn’t think much about it yet.

“We have to be successful in sports and then it will affect the whole country. Also for people and coexistence.”

“If intolerance and xenophobia had not been present before, I would feel very uncomfortable now. But it has always been there, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, and I think it always will be. It is not easy to fight against it, and it is not our task.”

All we can do now is to make people a little happier with football, and we hope that this will also have an effect on how we live together.

“Now I’m happy with what’s happening on the streets and on social media. The atmosphere is amazing, everyone encourages us. This is what we were waiting for, this is what we wanted. We hope it lasts until July 14th. We will do everything to win.”

Ilkay Gündogan (l.) and Jamal Musiala impressed again

Photo: SID