Gündogan's realization: "Suddenly, the courage was missing"

Slipped up: Ilkay Gündogan (front) and Galatasaray suffered a 5-1 defeat in Frankfurt. IMAGO/Jan Huebner

"We made very simple mistakes," said Ilkay Gündogan after the 5-1 defeat in Frankfurt , adding that Galatasaray "were clearly the better team until the 1-1. We even had chances to score a second. Then we got the 1-1, and you could already see on the pitch that their heads were hanging low and their courage was lacking. Then we conceded two more goals before halftime."

Chasing a two-goal deficit after halftime was "obviously not easy." Ultimately, it was too much of a good thing, especially since the defense proved to be a major weakness that evening. "It felt like we invited Frankfurt with every goal we conceded," the 34-year-old noted, adding: "We simply gave it away, and then we got a result like that. Overall, it wasn't good enough."

According to Gündogan, the defeat was "extremely unfortunate due to the first half." He also had "no immediate explanation" for how such a decisive defeat could have happened. "The crux of the matter in the Champions League is often simple mistakes. If we make the first, second, or third mistake, then we'll be punished at some point. Frankfurt did that with icy coolness and scored five goals accordingly."

Although Galatasaray has now made a serious mess of their Champions League campaign, that doesn't change Gündogan's belief that the team has great quality. "My first impression, without considering today's result, is that we have a very high-quality team," the 82-time Germany international clarified. "We have a lot of players who can play at a very high level."