Ilkay Gundogan witnessed his Barcelona side defeat Manchester City on penalties.
Hansi Flick started a relatively young team against City.
On the balance of play, Pep Guardiola’s side were the superior outfit – with 16 shots in comparison to Barcelona’s 10, six shots on target while the opposition registered just three and had 57% possession.
However, the Catalan giants defended extremely well and held the Sky Blues to a 2-2 draw before managing to be clinical during the penalty shootout as they won 4-1 as Inaki Pena was also heroic in between the sticks.
Gundogan, who was involved at Euro 2024 until the quarter-final with the German national team was not in the matchday squad for the contest.
Ilkay Gundogan reacts to meeting Stefan Ortega after Barcelona beat Man City
The English giants now face Chelsea to round off their pre-season tour of the United States.
In the build-up to the game, City will be assessing why they failed to defeat the Spanish side.
But due to the clash being a friendly, the Premier League winners did not seem overly disappointed due to the nature of the result.
Especially Stefan Ortega, who was all smiles upon being reunited with Gundogan after Manchester City lost to Barcelona.
The German skipper took to X to post a picture of the pair that was captioned: “Old friends, great memories.”
Stefan Ortega and Ilkay Gundogan seemed very close at Man City
Gundogan left a heartfelt reply on social media about Ortega making his final season at City a special one after the former paid ode to him after his exit was confirmed.
Manchester City’s second-choice goalkeeper described the midfield maestro as a “machine” after his iconic display during his side’s 2-1 win in the FA Cup final against Manchester United in 2023.
During his time at City, the only other German he shared a dressing room with was Leroy Sane.
As a result, Gundogan would have really enjoyed his time training and playing with Ortega at the Etihad Stadium.
It is nice to see that the former Manchester City pair remain close friends.
