During an interview with CBS Sports, FC Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan criticized teammate Ronald Araujo for the red card that led to elimination from the Champions League quarterfinals by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening.
The Catalans went into the last eight second leg tie at their ground with a 3-2 advantage thanks to winning in the Parc des Princes last time out.
The MVP of that initial meeting Raphinha made it three goals overall against the Ligue 1 giants by popping up with another strike inside a quarter of an hour.
Approaching the 30-minute mark, however, a moment of madness came over Araujo as he hacked down the last man on one PSG break in Bradley Barcola and was then red-carded ahead of his manager Xavi Hernandez also being dismissed for calling the referee a “disaster”.
Barca being made to be play with 10 men for a full hour proved too tall a task, and resulted in them conceding four goals to lose 4-1 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate.
Post-match, Gundogan, who won the UCL with Manchester City as their captain last term, didn’t shy away from being criticial as previously seen following an October loss in El Clasico to Real Madrid.
Asked how he was feeling by CBS Sports’ Golazo program, Gundogan answered: “Disappointed to be honest”.
“Because we were in such a good position not just after the first leg, but also after the first goal we scored [tonight].
“You know everything was in our hands and we just gave it away in the most simple manner. We just gave it to PSG and that’s the most disappointing part.”
Then invited to discuss Araujo’s dismissal and a penalty in the second half converted by Kylian Mbappe for the first of his two goals, Gundogan said: “I mean if he [Araujo] fouled him, I guess it’s a red card. I haven’t see the replay so I don’t know, you guys probably know better than us.
“It’s difficult to say. In these kind of crucial moments you need to be sure to get the ball. And if you don’t get it – and I don’t know again if he touched the ball or not – you have to stay away.
“I prefer to, of course, concede the goal there and maybe give the striker a one-on-one even though he played the ball quite far. I don’t even know if he was able to reach the ball. But give him the opportunity, let our goalkeeper maybe save us, or even concede a goal because to go down one man and get a red card so early, it just kills the game.
When it was pointed out to him that Barca dropped “very deep” in the second half which gave an excellent Vitinha acres of space to convert from the edge of the box and tie the aggregate score, Gundogan said that this again was a “mistake”.
“I think we have to step out there [out of the box] and don’t let him shoot. He was so free. It’s also nothing that we haven’t trained to be honest, to close the man, to get to the player, the ball.
“We were three v three after the corner, but then I think he was the fourth man and someone has to step out. No one did, or did too late. It was a good shot, and it was the second goal.
“Again it was not necessary at all, but it’s too late right now.”
Gundogan agreed that it was “the best Barcelona” of the season, which had gone 13 games unbeaten until now, which was knocked out of the Champions League.
“But you know, form, the moment you are in, in this competition, doesn’t count that much,” he stressed.
“You can come with so many games that you have won in the last few weeks, and with so much confidence, but decisive actions in crucial situations, they will either reward you or they will punish you. Tonight unfortunately, they punished us.”
With Barca now KO’d on the continent, attention turns to another episode of El Clasico at the Bernabeu on Sunday where the Blaugrana will look to try and reduce Madrid’s lead at the La Liga summit to five points.