‘If this was on purpose, it’s Puskas’: Ilkay Gundogan scores ‘really beautiful’ fluke for Man City at the Club World Cup

• Ilkay Gundogan scored Man City’s first goal in their 6-0 win over Al Ain
• It was an aesthetically pleasing strike despite seemingly being a fluke
• Watch every Club World Cup match free on DAZN. Sign Up Now

By ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Ilkay Gundogan impressed Manchester City fans with a ‘really beautiful’ fluke against Al Ain in Sunday night’s 6-0 win at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The 34-year-old opened the scoring against the side from Abu Dhabi after just eight minutes when he lobbed the goalkeeper using his weaker left foot.

A deflected corner kick from the right found Gundogan around 15 yards from goal and he danced around a defender’s challenge before dinking the ball towards Erling Haaland at the far post.

What appeared to be an attempted cross beat the keeper all ends up before Haaland watched it into the net, rather than trying to steal the goal for himself.

Reacting to the goal on social media, one fan wrote: ‘If this was on purpose, it’s Puskas for Gundogan omg’.

Another tweeted: ‘Man, Gundogan’s guilty goal was really beautiful.’

Ilkay Gundogan pictured (centre) celebrating with his Manchester City team-mates after scoring against Abu Dhabi side Al Ain at the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday night

Gundogan’s goal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was aesthetically pleasing but also a little lucky

What appeared to have been a cross, aimed at No 9 Erling Haaland, looped directly into the net

But not all fans were impressed. One reacted: ‘Commentator praising the quality of Gundogan who has skill with his left foot lol. For God’s sake, an unintentional goal is not a great goal, he missed the cross and the ball went into the drawer.’

Then at half-time, former City star Shay Given said during his analysis for DAZN that Gundogan had profited from ‘poor goalkeeping’ by Al Ain’s Khalid Eisa.

Given added: ‘He doesn’t move his feet, he doesn’t jump and that bit at the end is a bit comical.’

Eisa was beaten again midway through the second half when Claudio Echeverri nailed a free-kick to score the first goal of his City career.

Erling Haaland then converted a penalty kick to make it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time.

Gundogan struck again in the second half and he was joined on the scoresheet by Oscar Bobb and summer signing Rayan Cherki.

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‘If this was on purpose, it’s Puskas’: Ilkay Gundogan scores ‘really beautiful’ fluke for Man City at the Club World Cup

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