Ilkay Gundogan left shocked by Barcelona's dressing room reaction to Real Madrid defeat
Barcelona were agonisingly beaten 2-1 by Real Madrid in the first Clasico of the season, yet new signing Ilkay Gundogan was surprised at how his teammates reacted post-match
A stunned Ilkay Gundogan has admitted that he expected his Barcelona teammates to be 'angrier' after losing 2-1 at home to arch-rivals Real Madrid in El Clasico.
Gundogan, 33, scored after just six minutes to give Barca an early lead in his first Clasico since joining the Blaugrana from Manchester City this summer. But two second-half goals from English superstar Jude Bellingham, including a 92nd-minute winner, gave the visitors all three points in dramatic fashion and left Gundogan raging.
The German midfielder hoped that his teammates would be equally furious when he returned to the dressing room but was shocked to see a number of muted reactions. "I don't want to say something wrong, to be honest," Gundogan told La Liga TV post-match.
"But I was (just) in the dressing room, and of course, people are disappointed, but especially after such a big game and such a result, I wish (for) more frustration, more anger and more disappointment.
READ MORE: Mick Jagger 'curse' strikes again as Barcelona lose El Clasico in front of Rolling Stones starREAD MORE: Barcelona star coldly responds to Jude Bellingham question after dramatic El Clasico loss"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 in certain situations, and you just don't react and it transfers to the pitch."
The 33-year-old, who spent seven seasons at City and won five Premier League titles, called for more "resistance" among his team, as Barcelona find themselves four points adrift of leaders Real and second-placed surprise package Girona after just 11 games. "We need to make a huge step otherwise Real Madrid or even Girona is going to run away," Gundogan affirmed.
"I didn't come here to lose this type of game and let the gap create. There's also a responsibility from myself, a more experienced player, to not allow the squad to just let things happen. No, we need resistance."
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Meanwhile, Barca boss Xavi felt that his side deserved to win the game, claiming: "We dominated for 60 minutes, but this is football. We need five or six chances to score and they, with two or three, score two goals. It's the difference.
"We lacked effectiveness. What we proposed went well, we were calm, patient... Maybe I'm exaggerating, but the feeling I have from the bench is that we deserved to win."
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