Manchester City star Ilkay Gundogan has reacted to Germany’s early World Cup exit.

Germany crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage last week, taking just four points from their three Group E fixtures.

“We came close to [winning] our first match against Japan,” Gundogan posted on his Instagram page. “I was really good [had a good feeling] this time it’s going to go very far [Germany’s run] – everything just felt really good.

“But not even two weeks later it was all over again. Even today, with already a few days apart, this still makes it incredibly hard to grasp all of this.

“It’s my third major tournament in a row with the DFB team, which ends extremely frustrating and this time it’s really a challenge to cope with. After the Japan game, I lay awake for hours at night and could hardly explain how we could lose this game – after the Costa Rica game and the final play-off, it was similar. It’s just very painful.

“In the end, we owe it to ourselves. Too much conceded defensively, too much lying in the front – of course, I won’t take myself out of criticism. Now I’m still trying to switch off something to draw new motivation from this defeat.

“At the end of the month, Man City will finally continue again. Thanks to everyone who still believed in us until the end and will continue to support us!”