İlkay Gündoğan's 8️⃣ most memorable Man City moments | OneFootball

Manchester City said auf wiedersehen to their captain this week when İlkay Gündoğan left to join Barcelona on a free transfer.

The German midfielder’s move to LaLiga brings to an end seven trophy-laden years in Manchester, and he will be remembered as a City legend who provided many incredible clutch performances for the club.

Here are the eight most memorable moments from City’s former number eight.

“Announce Gündoğan!”

That was the tongue-in-cheek tweet from Gündoğan’s own account which announced his arrival in Manchester back on 2 June 2016.

The midfielder was Pep Guardiola’s first signing as City boss and 304 games, 60 goals and 13 major trophies later, the £20m spent on bringing him over from Borussia Dortmund will go down as one of the club’s greatest ever transfer deals.

Beating Barcelona

City’s first season under Guardiola was not a roaring success, with the club finishing third in the Premier League and failing to win a trophy.

But one of the standout performances of that first campaign came against Barcelona in a Champions League group stage encounter.

Lionel Messi gave Barça the lead at the Etihad but City soon levelled through Gündoğan. A Kevin De Bruyne free-kick then gave the hosts the lead, before another goal from Gündoğan completed his second brace in three days to seal the victory.

Sadly for Gündoğan, having been injured when he first joined the club, his first season at City ended in heartbreaking fashion when he tore the cruciate ligaments in his right knee in the December, ruling him out for nine months.

The comeback

Gündoğan finally made his comeback from injury as a substitute in a 6-0 win at Watford early in the 2017/18 season, and on 16 December 2017 he scored his first goal since returning to open the scoring in a 4-1 win over Tottenham.

He went on to make a total of 48 appearances in all competitions that year, scoring six goals, as City won the EFL Cup and their first Premier League title under Pep Guardiola, finishing with a record 100 points.

Back-to-back

Gündoğan was fully fit and firing the following season as City went toe-to-toe with Liverpool for the Premier League title.

The title race went down to the final day, and it was a beautiful Gündoğan free-kick which sealed a 4-1 victory away at Brighton to clinch City’s second successive Premier League crown.

Having already won the EFL Cup earlier in the season, Gündoğan then started at holding midfield as City thrashed Watford in the FA Cup final to complete an unprecedented and so far unmatched English domestic treble.

Star striker

With Sergio Agüero struggling for fitness in 2020/21, City were forced to play much of the season with a false nine.

The change in system gave Gündoğan license to play further forward than he’d been previously deployed, and he filled the goalscoring vacuum superbly with memorable braces against both Liverpool and Tottenham which gave City the platform to go on and win the third title during his time at the club.

He finished the campaign as the club’s top scorer with 17 goals in all competitions, the best goalscoring season of his career.

But the season ended on a low note, with Gündoğan part of the side which lost to Chelsea in City’s first ever Champions League final.

Final day heroics

During his time at the club, City became accustomed to Gündoğan truly coming alive and delivering heroic moments late in seasons when trophies were on the line.

By far the most iconic came on the final day of the 2021/22 season, when City needed a victory over Aston Villa to pip Liverpool to the title.

City fell behind just before half-time and then disaster struck when Philippe Coutinho put Villa 2-0 up in the second half.

But just when it seemed the title had slipped from City’s grasp, Gündoğan popped up with a vital header to give them a lifeline, before Rodri equalised moments later.

And then when De Bruyne played a cross to the back post, Gündoğan was in the perfect place to ghost in and complete an incredible seven-minute comeback to win the title and cement his name in Premier League folklore forever.

Stunner in the FA Cup final

Last summer Gündoğan was officially named City’s club captain following Fernandinho’s departure and two weeks after lifting his fifth Premier League title, he led his team-mates out at Wembley to face fierce rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

And just 12 seconds into the game he found the net with a stunning volley into the top corner. Not only was it a dream goal, but it was the fastest strike in FA Cup final history, and will likely remain that way for quite some time.

City needed a captain’s contribution again in the second half and Gündoğan heeded the call with another volley, this time with his left foot, to score what proved to be the cup winning goal.

Statues have been erected for less.

Champion of Europe at last

“To me, it has always been the greatest tournament in the world. There is something about it, something beyond the trophy and the anthem, that goes back to my childhood.”

Those were Gündoğan’s words for the Players’ Tribune in 2021 when he spoke about his lifelong dream to win the Champions League.

But having lost a Champions League final as a Borussia Dortmund player in 2013 and another in a City shirt in 2021, his dream was proving elusive.

That was until 10 June 2023, when he finally lifted the trophy as City captain in Istanbul – the homeland of his parents – after his side overcame Inter in the final to complete the treble.

“Unbelievable. Difficult to put in words. Today, we made history,” he told BT Sport after the game.

City fans will be sad to see Gündoğan go and he will be incredibly difficult to replace, both as a player and as a person.

But what a way to sign off that was.