Gundogan booed by German fans

Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan scored the fastest goal in FA Cup final history on Saturday, slamming the ball past Manchester United's David de Gea with just 13 seconds on the clock.

Treble-chasing City came into the match at Wembley as firm favourites but could not have dreamed of such a start in the London sunshine.

The goal beat the previous record of 25 seconds set by Everton's Louis Saha in the 2009 final against Chelsea.

City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega hit a long ball that was headed on and landed at the feet of Gundogan, who lashed home from the edge of the box, giving De Gea no chance.

England coach Gareth Southgate was keeping his feet firmly on the ground after England's 6-1 World Cup group-stage rout of Panama, declaring "I didn't particularly like the performance".

With a grin Southgate explained to the BBC: "I'm being hyper-critical, but I didn't like the start, I didn't like the goal at the end. The bits in the middle were pretty good though!"

Southgate was speaking after a hat-trick from Harry Kane, a double from John Stones and another from Jesse Lingard saw off Panama and qualified England into the knockout stages.

As it stands England are level on goal difference with also-qualified Belgium but top the group by virtue of yellow cards -- two compared to the Belgians' three.

The countries meet in Kaliningrad on Thursday.

Asked about possible changes to his XI to face Belgium, Southgate commented: "I want to keep the momentum, we have to think about the team we want to put out, it's an opportunity for players who need a match who haven't played for a while but on the other hand we want to keep winning.

"It's a nice decision to have!"

Reflecting on a record World Cup win for England -- their previous best result was 3-0 -- he added: "I was a bit anxious at the start, they (Panama) had six at the back and three in middle, but once we worked that out I thought we played some really good stuff for 35 minutes.

Southgate's main gripe was his defence allowing Felipe Baloy to score Panama's first ever World Cup goal in the 78th minute.

"At half-time we talked about one more goal to be top of the group, that's why the goal at the end was disappointing," he said.

"We'd rather be in control of the group than not, and confidence wise it's important to score goals.

"It was a big moment for Lingard and great for the captain (Kane) to score a hat-trick, that way he didn't have the hump when I took him off!"

Five years after a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sparked questions over his loyalty to Germany, Ilkay Gundogan will captain the national side during Saturday's international friendly against Turkey in Berlin.

Gundogan, who has never faced Turkey despite making his Germany debut more than a decade ago, told AFP subsidiary SID "it will be a very special game for me -- no question about it".

Named by former Germany coach Hansi Flick in September, Gundogan, 33, is the first footballer of Turkish descent to captain the four-time world champions.

The Barcelona midfielder's rise through the ranks of the German national team is all the more remarkable given the 2018 photo with Erdogan who Gundogan also handed a shirt written "with respect to my president".

Along with then star midfielder Mesut Ozil, Gundogan had found himself in the middle of a political storm.

But while Ozil dramatically quit the team, Gundogan has quietly endured whistles and insults from the stands and has had to work his way back into favour.

The Barcelona midfielder was picked to replace injured goalkeeper Manuel Neuer as skipper but new coach Julian Nagelsmann has said Gundogan will remain captain for Euro 2024 on German soil, even if the 2014 World Cup winner returns.

Erdogan will be in Germany later Friday for talks with German leaders, but he is not expected to attend the friendly or meet the players.

'Deep blow'

Born in the industrial German city of Gelsenkirchen, home to fallen football giant Schalke, Gundogan's grandfather was one of thousands of Turkish 'guest workers', having moved to Germany to work in the mines.

Growing up, Gundogan helped his father deliver beer crates throughout the football-mad Ruhr region, until his talent for the game became obvious.

Gundogan moved to FC Nuremberg and later Borussia Dortmund, where he scored a penalty in the 2013 Champions League final loss to Bayern Munich.

At international level Gundogan made his debut for Germany in 2011 but missed their 2014 World Cup triumph with a back injury.

The midfielder moved to Manchester City in 2016 and won numerous honours, captaining the Premier League side to a remarkable treble in 2022-23.

Gundogan moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2023, just after he was named German Footballer of the Year for the first time.

Despite his undoubted quality on the pitch, Gundogan's time in a Germany shirt has not always been smooth sailing.

Following the controversial photo with Erdogan, Gundogan and Ozil came under heavy fire in Germany.

The row was all the more sensitive as Germany, particularly the capital Berlin, is home to the biggest Turkish community abroad.

German FA (DFB) chief Reinhard Grindel issued a statement saying the picture was "not a good thing", saying "football and the DFB stands for values that Mr Erdogan does not respect sufficiently".

Gundogan said at the time "to now be portrayed as if we were not integrated or did not live according to German values was a deep blow for me".

'Great festival' 

While Ozil finished his career in Turkey and asked Erdogan to be his best man at his 2019 Istanbul wedding, Gundogan established himself as one of Germany's best players.

His ties to Turkey remain firm.

"My grandparents, parents and other relatives still live in Turkey, in Izmir, and of course I also have many friends there," he said.

Gundogan said he "travels to Turkey at least once a year" and sent trucks full of relief supplies to the south of the country after the 2022 earthquake.

Gundogan congratulated Turkey for qualifying for Euro 2024, saying he "at least watches the highlights" of their games.

On meeting them on the field, Gundogan said he was "really looking forward to a great festival of football" on Saturday.

While both countries have qualified for Euro 2024 already, the fixture remains important for a Germany side reeling after two World Cup group stage exits in a row.

Ilkay Gundogan has urged Manchester City to stay focused as the Premier League champions prepare for the climax to their treble bid.

City were crowned English champions for the fifth time in six seasons on Saturday when second placed Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest.

Pep Guardiola's side enjoyed their title party on Sunday with a 1-0 win against Chelsea before skipper Gundogan lifted the trophy.

With their third successive title in the bag, City can focus on emulating the Manchester United team that won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in 1998-99.

But before that City must finish their league campaign with trips to Brighton and Brentford on Wednesday and Sunday respectively.

City, winner of their last 12 league matches, are unbeaten in 24 games and German midfielder Gundogan is wary of losing momentum.

"We haven't lost any games for so many weeks and that's the standard that we have to set for ourselves," he said.

"We do nothing different - we do the same things that we've done in the last few weeks and hopefully it can be a really special end to the season.

"I love the club and being part of this amazing team. Obviously, we want to finish the season with two more trophies.

"We have two more big finals, and the last two games of the Premier League season are going to be preparation for that. We don't want to drop anything. I would love to lift two more trophies."

City's treble chase comes down to two matches as they face Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley on June 3, and Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul seven days later.

Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who like Gundogan is now a five-time Premier League winner, is confident City can do something "special" at the end of their latest triumphant campaign.

"We like to win, and we're never bored of it. We've won a lot in the past but we want to win again and again," De Bruyne said.

"We keep on working. We enjoy the games against Brighton and Brentford and prepare for United and Inter and hopefully we can do something special.

"Everybody wants it. We know we need to win two games, but they are hard games, and we need to prepare ourselves the best as possible and hopefully we can win them."
 

Lionel Messi and Argentina hit the training ground on Saturday with renewed hope of qualifying for the World Cup last 16.

Argentina were on the brink of elimination after a humiliating 3-0 loss to Croatia, but Nigeria's 2-0 win over Iceland on Friday offered the two-time world champions a lifeline.

Victory over Nigeria in their final Group D match in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday would send Argentina through as runners-up if group leaders Croatia avoid defeat against Iceland.

Gabriel Mercado, Nicolas Otamendi and midfielder Lucas Biglia trained separately from the rest of the squad in the gym as they recover from minor knocks.

Defensive pair Mercado and Otamendi suffered ankle injuries in the loss to Croatia but are expected to be fit to face Nigeria.

Coach Jorge Sampaoli was roundly criticised for his approach against Croatia, sparking rumours the 58-year-old would be sacked during the tournament.

It had been suggested that 1986 World Cup winner Jorge Burruchaga, the team's technical director, would replace Sampaoli, but the claims were strongly denied by the Argentina Football Association (AFA).

Messi was kept quiet as Argentina suffered their heaviest first round group stage defeat since 1958, but the Barcelona forward could yet have his say at what is likely his fourth and final World Cup.

Goalkeeper Willy Caballero could be dropped following his mistake for the opening goal against Croatia, with River Plate's Franco Armani possibly in line to make his international debut.