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Although his team started their European campaign with a victory, the midfielder sees many challenges today.
Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has said his team is currently “struggling” despite their 3-1 win over Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Luis Díaz gave Porto an early lead at the Etihad Stadium before Sergio Agüero tied from the point in the teams’ first Group C game.
Gundogan turned out to be the winner of the night’s match, as an expertly executed free kick gave City the lead in the 65th minute before Ferran Torres concluded the match eight minutes later.
Although the victory over the Portuguese team was City’s second in a row after defeating Arsenal 1-0 on Saturday, Gundogan admitted that he believes City are currently in poor shape.
Key figures Kevin De Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte are injured, while Fernandinho appears to lose some time after leaving late in the match against Porto.
Meanwhile, Gundogan has just returned to the City team after missing the start of the season due to testing positive for Covid-19.
“If I’m honest, we are fighting right now,” Gundogan said in BT sport after Wednesday’s game.
“Fernandinho left at the end, we have players playing in different positions. I am not 100 percent because I had Covid, we are not all at the same moment.
“That is the challenge of this season, it will not end for a while. It will not be difficult for Pep to choose an XI because the players are going to be tired.”
With the season starting a month later than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic, teams will have to deal with a more condensed schedule than usual.
Speaking this weekend, Bernardo Silva predicted that this season’s Premier League champions will need fewer points than in recent campaigns, with more teams than usual chasing first place.
“In recent seasons, we saw that to be champions you had to get close to 100 points, I think the situation this season is going to be different,” Silva said.
“Since many players did not rest during the summer, I think the competition will be more balanced.”
