Ilkay Gundogan has responded with great humour to the social media ridicule that hit Manchester City when they wore shirts with his name on the front for their clash with Arsenal.
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The midfielder picked up a serious knee injury on Wednesday that is expected to see him out of action for the rest of the season.
Man City's first team responded by wearing shirts with Gundogan's name out on to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday in tribute to their sidelined team-mate - and Twitter was merciless in its mocking of the televised moment.
Awful start by City. Gundogan will be turning in his grave.
— Andrew Kilduff (@TuftyMUFC) December 18, 2016
This is actually embarrassing. Gundogan is at home lads he's not dead pic.twitter.com/vFRiGyNR2W
— Adam (@DeGeaoIogy) December 18, 2016
Gundogan smiling down from the heavens like pic.twitter.com/5kaVfjxJ7t
— ᒪ3ᗩᕼᑭᗩᖇ (@l3ahpar) December 18, 2016
Gundogan has laughed off the 'RIP Gundogan' jokes and congratulated City for leapfrogging Arsenal in the Premier League table with the 2-1 win.
Thanks to my teammates & of course - congrats to my boys to this crucial win against #AFC PS: Don't worry - I'm still alive #MCIARS pic.twitter.com/det9q7C8Wp
— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) December 18, 2016
Next up for Manchester City is a visit to Hull City on December 26, who foot up the Premier League table with 17 games played.
Pep Guardiola's men are second, having leapfrogged Liverpool and Arsenal, but remain seven points behind runaway leaders Chelsea.
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