İlkay Gündogan equalled a Lionel Messi benchmark in Barcelona’s defeat to Villarreal | OneFootball

A remarkable statistic centering on the creative exploits of Barcelona star İlkay Gündogan during the club’s meeting with Villarreal has come to the fore online.

Barca, of course, marked their return to action late last night, welcoming Villarreal to Catalunya’s capital for a La Liga clash.

When all was said and done, the Blaugrana were ultimately put to the sword by five goals to three, owing to an at-times comical defensive display.

And the aftermath of the matchup, understandably, has since been dominated by headlines surrounding the decision of head coach Xavi Hernández to step down.

Speaking in a post-match press conference on Saturday night, Xavi confirmed:

“I want to announce that on June 30 I will no longer continue as the coach at Barça. I think the situation needs to change course, and as a culer, I cannot allow the current situation.”

As alluded to above, though, in the midst of what proved a chaotic evening in Barcelona, one aspect of the club’s latest outing which went under the radar was the brilliance of İlkay Gündogan.

Midfielder Gündogan was responsible for a masterful display against Villarreal, almost single-handedly dragging his side back into things courtesy of his exploits in the final third.

And such endeavours have since given rise to the most remarkable of statistics.

As revealed in the aftermath of last night’s clash, Gündogan’s tally of ten saw him become the first Barcelona player since Lionel Messi all the way back in 2021 to reach double digits in key passes in a single fixture:

Conor Laird | GSFN