'Friends for life' - Man City fans are breaking down barriers with Ilkay Gundogan

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Three Manchester City fans are 'friends for life' after being whisked off for a VIP trip to Barcelona with Ilkay Gundogan. During his seven years in Manchester, former City skipper Gundogan got involved with Community Integrated Care - a national charity that aims to enable adults with learning difficulties and autism to live as full a life as possible.

Gundogan took the time to meet some of the people around the Manchester area and helped in a number of ways, such as outside visits during lockdown and putting on food for the Champions League final.

And despite swapping the Etihad for Barcelona last summer, the midfielder has kept in touch with the charity and organised a special trip for three City fans and their families to watch a Barcelona game and then meet him the next morning at the training ground.

Kayley Davies from Tameside, Daniel Wilmott from Stockport, and Katie Richardson from Warrington all travelled with their support teams and got to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience. ALSO READ: Man City transfer state of play with Paqueta, Grealish and £20m clause ALSO READ: Premier League trophy ended up at my house after historic Man City win "People got to interview him in Barcelona and ask him questions and you can see how passionate he still is about Manchester and Man City," said Kurtis March, sports inclusion team leader at Community Integrated Care. "To be able to still support and help people within that area who don't have access to the opportunities that we all do and he has broken down such a significant barrier to travel all the way over to Spain.