Ilkay Gundogan Recalls Funny Incident Involving Lamine Yamal

Former Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan shared a funny story about Barcelona’s young talent, Lamine Yamal, during a Champions League match last season.

Gundogan, who spent the last season at Barcelona before returning to Manchester City, had an impressive year with the club, leading the assists chart. However, Barcelona had to let him go due to financial issues.

Yamal is a hot topic at the moment after his performance against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, but this story involves a different topic.

In a recent interview on the Ranveer Show, Gundogan recalled a moment during a Champions League game against Porto when Yamal left the pitch without being substituted.

“At that point, we were leading 1-0, and everything seemed fine,” said Gundogan. “But suddenly, around the 60th minute, we started to feel the pressure. Porto seemed much stronger, as if they had an extra player on the field.”

It was later revealed that Yamal had left the pitch to use the toilet. Gundogan explained that the coaching staff, knowing how important Yamal was to the team, didn’t want to substitute him out straight away and were waiting for him to return.

“I didn’t realise Yamal had gone until the pressure from Porto started to build,” Gundogan said. “After about 10 minutes, I found out that Lamine had gone to the bathroom! They were hoping he would come back quickly so they wouldn’t have to make a substitution. I asked, ‘What’s going on? We’re playing with 10 men! Why haven’t we made a substitution?’”

Eventually, after waiting a bit longer, the staff had to make a substitution as Yamal didn’t return in time.

It was a lighthearted moment in an intense match, showing the unique challenges players face during games.