Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola may be thinking about dropping Ilkay Gundogan for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.
That is the view of former Premier League defender Kenny Cunningham, speaking on the Off The Ball podcast.
City have taken a 1-1 result back to the Etihad Stadium from the first leg.
Vinicius Jr had given Real the lead against the run of play.
But City got back on level terms in the second-half thanks to a thunderbolt from Kevin De Bruyne.
It was a good overall performance from City, at a very tough place to go an get a result.
Guardiola’s side showed good control, and did not panic when going 1-0 down. They stuck to the plan, and the pressure eventually told for Real in the second-half.
There were lots of good individual displays for City. But one man who did struggle a little was German maestro Gundogan.
The star wasn’t his usual influential self, and he gave the ball away cheaply on a number of occasions.
It could perhaps be put down to the fact he took a few whacks in the first-half.
But the £20 million ace was perhaps City’s weakest player performance-wise on the night. And now Cunningham has suggested he might lose his place for the second leg.
He said: “There’s an argument even for saying that Bernardo Silva shouldn’t come out of the team. He could get flipped into midfield in place of maybe Gundogan in the left-sided eight position alongside De Bruyne.
“He gives them that real kind of dynamic tenacity and energy in there as well.”
Ilkay Gundogan struggled a bit in first leg vs Real Madrid and could lose place at Etihad
Cunningham’s suggestion here could well be something Pep considers ahead of the second leg.
Gundogan did not have his best outing. And there is certainly an argument for playing Bernardo central, and getting someone like Riyad Mahrez or Phil Foden out onto the wing.
It will be fascinating to see what the manager does.
If Gundogan starts against Everton at the weekend, then that could possibly indicate that he won’t be starting on Wednesday at the Etihad.
