Ilkay Gundogan is the hero of Manchester City’s golden match. The 31-year-old midfielder hasn’t had a good start this season, but it was his appearance on the field against Aston Villa that turned the title race upside down.
Gundogan came on the field in the 68th minute right after Aston Villa’s second goal. After 8 minutes, he recaptured one of the goals and scored the winning goal after the other 6 goals, making the score 3:2. This comeback allowed City to maintain the top spot at the table and secure the championship.
Ilkay is not Manchester City’s most media player, but there is an intriguing story in his biography.
In March 2014, news broke that Gundogan (who was playing for Borussia D at the time) was receiving treatment in Crimea. In 2013, the midfielder injured his back after not playing for almost a year. Every week the situation worsened – soon Gundogan could not stand normally. This regimen did not contribute to maintaining fitness. Soon photos of Ilkay with a belly appeared, according to rumors, he was then 179 cm tall and weighed under 100 kg.
Borussia offered Gundogan surgery in Germany, but Ilkay didn’t want to risk it and hoped to find a way to recover without surgery. The club gave him full authority to find this solution. Gündoğan sought advice from his Turkish volleyball cousin, Naz Aydemir. He advised Ilkay to go to a health center in Evpatoria, where he was treated after a similar injury.
Borussia Dortmund denied for a long time that Gundogan received treatment in Crimea. The truth is that Ilkay planned the trip in February, arrived on March 10 and stayed on the peninsula until April 6th. All this time, there was an unstable political situation in the region – the midfielder even held a referendum in which Russia declared Crimea its territory. On the reaction of Europe to these events, Borussia tried not to shine the presence of their players in the region.
Yuri Ponomarenko, Director of the Ministry of Defense Evpatoria Central Children’s Clinic Sanatorium, where Gündoğan was treated, said, “Gundogan learned about us from the internet, and his acquaintances who were treated here told us about it.” – He thought for a long time, asking me to show him exactly what we are doing here. I thought for two days and finally decided to come. We took him carefully, we realized that this is not the easiest person. He said he liked everything when he left.
Gundogan later confirmed his presence in Crimea: “I visited some experts, including in Ukraine, to get expert opinion on my injury.”
After staying in the sanatorium for 24 days, İlkay returned to Germany and nevertheless decided to have spinal surgery, which was the source of the problem. There were fears that the midfielder would not be able to continue his career. However, after 14 months, Gündoğan still returned to duty. A year later he moved to Manchester City to collect a trophy collection here for 27m euros. Including the 2021/22 championship, which has become exclusive to Ilkay.
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