Ilkay Gundogan has criticised Manchester City’s mentality in the Champions League, labelling the club as ‘nervous’.
Pep Guardiola’s side were beaten 1-0 at Tottenham in the first leg of their quarter-final tie on Tuesday night, South Korean forward Son Heung-Min scoring the game’s only goal.
The result leaves City facing a difficult task to reach the semi-finals, with the club having reached the last four on just one previous occasion, and midfielder Gundogan has criticised his side’s approach to important European fixtures.
“We were not brave enough in the game and we made a lot of simple mistakes,” Gundogan told Sky Deutschland.
“I have the feeling we are nervous in important Champions League games. We always make the wrong decisions. In these matches we always want to do something special because it means [going through to the] Champions League semi-finals. Sometimes less is more.
“Negative events like Agüero’s penalty miss always set us back far too much. Had we scored from the penalty, we’d have taken Tottenham apart. But instead we withdrew from the game. That must not happen to a big team. That’s why we’re not there yet.”